Taversöe Tuick

Taversöe Tuick
	Exterior
	Location in Rousay
Alternative name	Taversoe Tuick
Location	Orkney
Coordinates	59°07′53″N 3°00′18″W / 59.1314°N 3.0049°W
Type	Chambered cairn
History
Periods	Neolithic

Taversöe Tuick (or Taversoe Tuick) is a Neolithic burial cairn on Rousay, Orkney, Scotland, thought to date from between 4000 and 2500 BCE.^[1] The monument includes a rare example of a double-tiered chamber,^[1] an upper chamber approached via a passageway and a lower subterranean chamber, originally separate, which can now be reached via a modern ladder from the upper chamber.^[2]^[3] It is unknown why the chambers were stacked in this way.^[3] The monument includes a third miniature chamber slightly downhill of the lower chamber, and linked to it by a small channel which has sometimes been called a 'drain' although that is not believed to be its true purpose.^[4]

In 1898 excavations uncovered part of the upper chamber, and access was gained to the intact lower chamber.^[4] The site was fully excavated in 1937, at which time the upper chamber was covered with a domed roof.^[4] Finds included several skeletons, cremated bone, bowls, a mace-head, a flint arrowhead and scrapers, and shale disc beads.^[4]

The site is a scheduled monument in the care of Historic Environment Scotland,^[2] and the monument and chambers are open to the public.^[3]

References

^ ^a ^b "Taversöe Tuick Chambered Cairn". Historic Environment Scotland: Visit a Place. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Taversoe Tuick, chambered cairn and nearby remains". Historic Environment Scotland. SM90297. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Hamilton, Dave (2019). Wild Ruins BC. Bath: Wild Things Publishing. p. 270. ISBN 978-1910636169.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Rousay, Taversoe Tuick". Canmore. 2634. Retrieved 17 March 2020.