ENTRANCE TO THE CUWEEN HILL
CHAMBERED CAIRNNATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 5CT scans and clay model-
ing techniques were used to
reconstruct the dog’s head,
which was about the size of
a large collie. Although dogs
had been domesticated in Eu-
rope for thousands of years,
the model shows that the Cu-
ween dog still bears striking
wolfish features.Canine Totem
Since their discovery nearly
120 years ago, the dog skulls
have long puzzled scholars.
“Dogs clearly had an impor-
tant place in Neolithic Orkney,
as they were kept and trained
as pets and guards and perhaps
used by farmers to help tend
sheep,” said Steve Farrar,interpretation manager at
HES. But he also suggested re-
mains of dogs in the tomb in-
dicate that their role in the
community went beyond
practical concerns. Archaeol-
ogist Alison Sheridan of the
National Museum of Scotland
agreed, suggesting that dogs
may have been a kind of totem
for the community that lived
in the environs of Cuween Hill:“They may have seen them-
selves as ‘the dog people,’”
Sheridan said.
The presence of dogs in the
tomb is reminiscent of oth-
er Neolithic sites on Orkney
where remains of animals have
also been found. Experts from
HES also hypothesize that the
local Neolithic culture may
have held “a belief in an after-
life for animals.”WHERE EAGLES DARED
CUWEEN HILL is not the only site in the Orkney
Islands where numerous animal remains
have been found. On the Island of Rousay,
a chambered cairn named the Knowe of
Yarso contains the remains of 36 deer de-
posited alongside human bones.
South of Cuween Hill, on the Island
of South Ronaldsay, lies the Isbister
Chambered Cairn, more commonly
known as the Tomb of the Eagles. It was discovered
in the 1950s by a local farmer, who stumbled on a
small stone chamber in the cliff bordering his fields.
On entering the chamber, he discovered, to his as-
tonishment, that it contained about 30 human skulls.
Further exploration of the site revealed that among
the human remains were the bones of 14 white sea
eagles. The birds have been dated to around the
same period as the Cuween Hill dogs and, like their
canine counterparts, are believed to have had totem-
ic significance for the local community.Noted for its especially fine
stonework, the oldest parts of
the Cuween Hill tomb were
probably built for human
burials around 3000 B.C.
The site remained in use for
centuries by people in the ar-
ea. Dogs were not among the
original “residents” of the
tomb. Carbon dating indi-
cates that they lived around
500 years after the structure
was first built.
Using a dog’s skull to cre-
ate a forensic canine facial
reconstruction—believed to
be the first ever—was under-
taken as a joint project be-
tween Historic Environment
Scotland (HES) and the Na-
tional Museum of Scotland.
TOP AND BOTTOM: DAVID LYONS/ALAMYLESS GIBBON/ALAMYRAYCOOPERMAN/GETTY^ IMAGESNEWSTHESE BONES CAME FROM WHITE SEA EAGLES AND WERE FOUND
IN THE TOMB OF THE EAGLES ON SOUTH RONALDSAY, ORKNEY.
THEY DATE TO AROUND 2400 B.C.THE INNER CHAMBER OF
CUWEEN HILL FEATURES
DISTINCTIVE STONEWORK.