The Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site consists of several prehistoric monolithic sites on Orkney's Mainland island in Scotland, including Maeshowe passage grave, Standing Stones of Stenness stone circle, Ring of Brodgar stone circle, and the village of Skara Brae. These sites date back to between 2500 BC to 3100 BC and provide evidence of Neolithic architecture, astronomy, and rituals.

1. Heart of Neolithic Orkney refers to a group of Neolithic monuments found on the
Mainland, one of the islands of Orkney, Scotland. The name was adopted by UNESCO when
it proclaimed these sites as a World Heritage Site in 1999.
Maeshowe – a unique chambered cairn and passage grave, aligned so that its central
chamber is illuminated on the winter solstice. It was looted by Vikings who left one of the
largest collections of runic inscriptions in the world.
Standing Stones of Stenness – the four remaining megaliths of a henge, the largest of
which is 6 metres (19 ft) high
Ring of Brodgar – a stone circle 104 metres in diameter, originally composed of 60 stones
set within a circular ditch up to 3 metres deep and 10 metres wide, forming a henge
monument. It has been estimated that the structure took 80,000 man-hours to construct
Skara Brae – a cluster of ten houses making up Northern Europe’s best-preserved Neolithic
village.
Ness of Brodgar is an archaeological site between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of
Stenness that has provided evidence of housing, decorated stone slabs, a massive stone
wall with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic "cathedral"

9. Neolithic henge and stone circle in Orkney, Scotland.
These are the northernmost example of circle henges in Britain.
Most henges do not contain stone circles; Brodgar Avebury, Stonehenge are exceptions).
no obvious stones inside the circle
possibility remains that wooden structures, for example, may be present.
monument's age remains uncertain.
generally thought to have been erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC,
Ring of Brodgar

10. The stones are thin slabs, approximately 300 mm thick. Four, up to about 5 m high, were
originally elements of a stone circle of 12 stones, laid out in an ellipse about 32 m
diameter on a levelled platform of 44 m diameter surrounded by a ditch. The ditch is cut
into rock by as much as 2 m and is 7 m wide, surrounded by an earth bank, with a single
entrance causeway on the north side.
The entrance faces towards the Neolithic Barnhouse Settlement which has been found
adjacent to the Loch of Harray.
The Watch Stone stands outside the circle to the north-west and is 5.6 m high. Other
smaller stones include a square stone setting in the centre of the circle platform where
cremated bone, charcoal and pottery were found, and animal bones were found in the
ditch.
The pottery links the monument to Skara Brae and Maeshowe, and the site is thought to
date from at least 3000 BC.

11. Radio-carbon dates from the excavation show
that the site dates from at least 3100BC,
making the Standing Stones complex one of
the earliest stone circles in Britain .
With an approximate diameter of 44 metres
the earth bank had a single entrance causeway
on the north side, facing the Neolithic
Barnhouse settlement on the shore of the
Harray loch. Little remains of the bank, or
ditch, today, although traces remain visible
around the stone circle.
Geological examinations of the surviving
stones revealed that five different types of
stone were use - a discovery that ties in with
Dr Colin Richard’s theory that the stones for
the monument, just like Brodgar, were brought
to the site from various different, perhaps
significant, locations.

12. Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west
coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland.
It consists of eight clustered houses
occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE.
Europe's most complete Neolithic village, Skara Brae
gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up "The Heart of
Neolithic Orkney.“
Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids
called the "Scottish Pompeii" because of its excellent preservation
Built by Grooved Ware people
Pastoralists-cattle, sheep
Theocratic class of wise men who performed ceremonies at Maes Howe.?
Cultivated barley
fishing