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Heart of Neolithic Orkney

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Date of Inscription: 1999
Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)
Mainland Orkney, Scotland
Multiple locations
N58 59 45.8 W3 11 19.2
Ref: 514rev

Brief Description

The group of Neolithic monuments on Orkney consists of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites. The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago.
the Stones of Stenness | Martin Gray © Sacred Sites / Martin Gray More pictures ...

Justification for Inscription

Criteria (i), (ii), (iii), and (iv):The monuments of Orkney, dating back to 3000-2000 BC, are outstanding testimony to the cultural achievements of the Neolithic peoples of northern Europe.

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