Stones of Stenness, Orkney

The stones of Stenness and adjacent stones have been inscribed upon the World Heritage list
concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The stones of Stenness are
a unique and early expression of the customs of Neolithic people.The Stones of Stenness along
with three other sites at Maes Howe, Skara Brae and the Ring of Brogar form the heart of
Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site

Ruins of Time

You see before you the ruin of a ring of tall stones built between 3000 and 2500 BC. At other
monuments we know that prehistoric peoples wreaked destruction and it may be due to them or
medieval Orcadians that the ring has lost all but 4 of its original upright stones by 1760.

The ditch around the stones filled up with soil as centuries of ploughing levelled down the
original banks. The flattening of the banks was almost complete by 1973. You can only see the
bank now because it has been reinstated to as it was in 1851 - flaws and all - as it was already
partly ploughed when the first good record of the site was made
The Builders

Before 4000BC people began to grow barley and wheat in Britain. Before that time only hunters
had roamed the land. The farmers reached Orkney around 3500BC and over the next 1000 years
built many settlements, tombs and the Stones of Stenness. These buildings show great diversity ,
but two broad groups of people can be recognised.One group used a kind of pottery called
grooved wear. More is known about how this this group of people lived in Orkney than any other
ancient British community

The Stones and the Henge

At some time between 3000 and 2000 BC people set up 12 great stones, the tallest over 5.7
metres high, in an ellipse pointing a little west of north.Round them they dug , partly through
solid rock , a ditch 6 metres wide and about 2.3 metres deep.Outside it a bank of similar width
and unknown height was built. They left an 8 metre wide causeway across the ditch on the
northern side of the ring, and a similar gap in the bank

The Central Settings

Features have been discovered through excavations which are no longer visible on the ground. In
the centre of the ring a wooden post had been set up. Subsequently a roughly 2 metre square
setting of stone slabs was made where the stones had been . Perhaps later , two large stones were
set up to its north - these stones disappeared before historical records were made but the holes
were found in excavation. A small wooden structure was built to the north of the two stones - but
not quite in line with them.
Archaeologists found pottery, cremated bones and evidence of fire in the small central slab
setting - the bones may have come from animals or people and may represent burials or offerings