Documents

Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).

The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM1348_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600004101)

Summary

Description

The monument comprises the remains of an extensive barrow cemetery dating to the Bronze Age (between around 2000 and 800 BC). The barrows are visible as a group of at least 13 sub-circular turf-covered mounds, ranging in size from 5m to 15m in diameter and from 0.10m to 1.45m in height. A total of 15 or 16 mounds were recorded by RCAHMS in 1928, and an antiquarian account published in 1839 described the site as a 'numerous cluster' of 'barrows or tumuli'. Several mounds at Linga Fiold were investigated as part of the Orkney Barrows Project in the 1990s and the majority were found to contain secondary and/or satellite burials, in addition to the original burial. Moreover, the areas immediately around and between the mounds revealed archaeological evidence of mortuary structures, funerary pyres and related activities. The monument is situated on a SE-facing slope at about 35m above sea level. There are excellent views from Linga Fiold towards the Loch of Stenness and beyond to the important Neolithic landscape around the Ness of Brodgar. The monument was first scheduled in 1949, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling specifically excludes the above-ground elements of the post-and-wire fence running E-W across the monument and the above-ground elements of a telegraph pole.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant contribution towards our understanding of burial and funerary practices in Bronze Age Orkney. Earthen barrows form an important and relatively widespread element of Orkney's Bronze Age landscape, and provide evidence for the major social and economic changes which took place during this period. Orkney's barrows are unusual in Scotland, and important within a British context, because the majority are mainly earthen mounds as opposed to stone-built cairns. Excavations in the 1990s have demonstrated that this monument retains high potential to preserve evidence of human burials and associated features, including mortuary structures, funeral pyres and related activities. Originally part of a larger barrow cemetery, the significance of the surviving barrows is enhanced by their place within a wider funerary landscape rich in prehistoric burial monuments. The Linga Fiold barrow cemetery occupies a conspicuous position on the upper reaches of a SE-facing slope, with views over the Loch of Stenness and beyond to the important Neolithic landscape around the Ness of Brodgar. Our understanding of Bronze Age ritual and burial practices in Orkney and across Scotland would be significantly diminished if this monument was to be lost.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.