Tomb of the Eagles
The tomb in 2017 | |
| Location | Scotland, United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 58°44′42″N 2°55′01″W / 58.7449557°N 2.9168817°W |
| Type | Tomb |
| Length | 3 metres (9.8 ft) (entrance tunnel) |
| Height | 2.75 metres (9 ft 0 in) |
| History | |
| Material | Stone |
| Founded | c. 3200 BC |
| Site notes | |
| Discovered | 1958 by Ronald Simison |
The Tomb of the Eagles, or Isbister Chambered Cairn, is a Neolithic chambered tomb located on a cliff edge at Isbister on South Ronaldsay in Orkney, Scotland. The site was discovered by Ronald Simison, a farmer, when digging flagstones in 1958; he conducted a limited excavation and removed some bones and skulls at that time but filled in the site with dirt. A more extensive excavation was started in 1976, and "an enormous amount of material was removed", according to a report published in 2002.
Alerted by Simison, archaeologist John Hedges mounted a full study, prepared a technical report and wrote a popular book that cemented the tomb's name. The Archaeological Journal review of the Hedges book (Tomb of the eagles a window on Stone Age tribal Britain) provided a less than stellar rating: "reasonably well done", "but how very much better it might have been".