Maeshowe (also spelled Maes Howe; Old Norse: Orkahaugr) is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave located on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. It was likely built around 2800 BC. In Scottish archaeology, it is named after the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, a structure found only in Orkney.
Maeshowe is an important example of Neolithic craftsmanship. Archaeologist Stuart Piggott described it as "a superlative monument that by its originality of execution is lifted out of its class into a unique position." It is officially protected as a scheduled monument and is part of the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney," a group of sites that includes Skara Brae. This group was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.
Name and etymology
The monument now called Maeshowe was first mentioned in Old Norse texts as Orkahaugr. This name appears in the medieval Orkneyinga saga. In Old Norse, "haugr" means "mound" or "burial mound," and "Orka" could be a person's name or refer to the place called Orkney. Therefore, the name is usually understood to mean "Ork's mound" or "the mound of Orkney."
The modern name Maeshowe came later from Scots language elements. The word "howe" in Maeshowe comes from Old Norse "haugr," meaning "mound." The first part, "Maes," is less clear. It may be a later change or adaptation of the earlier Norse name.
Old writers often spelled the name as "Maes Howe" or "Maes-howe," following older English spelling rules.
Some scholars have suggested that "Maes" might come from Scottish Gaelic. Hugh Marwick, a place-name expert, thought it could be from the Gaelic word "mas," meaning "buttock" or a rounded hill, describing the shape of the mound. However, Celtic place names are not very common in the Northern Isles, and Marwick considered this idea uncertain.
Other theories link "Maes" to the Welsh word "maes," meaning "field" or "open area." But this explanation is also considered unlikely.
Like many ancient monuments in Britain, the tomb itself is much older than the name used for it. The chambered cairn was built around 2800 BCE, thousands of years before Norse people arrived in Orkney.
Design and construction
Maeshowe is one of the largest chambered cairns in Orkney. The grass-covered mound that surrounds the tomb is about 35 meters (115 feet) wide and 7.3 meters (24 feet) tall. A ditch runs around the base of the mound, located about 15 to 21 meters (49 to 69 feet) away from the mound and up to 14 meters (46 feet) wide.
Underneath the mound is a carefully built stone structure made of a passage and a central chamber, constructed from large slabs of local flagstone. Some of these slabs weigh as much as 30 tons. The monument is positioned so that sunlight enters the passage during the winter solstice and reaches the back wall of the central chamber. A similar effect happens at Newgrange, another Neolithic passage tomb where sunlight also enters the interior during midwinter.
The entrance passage is about 11 meters (36 feet) long and leads to a central chamber that is nearly square, with each side measuring about 4.6 meters (15 feet). Today, the chamber is about 3.8 meters (12 feet) tall, showing the height of the remaining original stone. It is now covered by a modern corbelled roof, although the original roof may have been taller, reaching about 4.6 meters (15 feet) or more.
The passage itself is only about 0.91 meters (3 feet) high, requiring visitors to bend or crawl as they move inside before reaching the taller central chamber. Inside, the walls are made of large flat stone slabs, many of which stretch nearly the full length of each wall. In each corner, massive angled supports rise upward toward the top. At a height of about 0.91 meters (3 feet), the construction changes from flat slabs to overlapping stones, forming a beehive-shaped vault that covers the chamber.
Estimates of the work needed to build Maeshowe vary. One common estimate suggests about 39,000 hours of labor, while archaeologist Colin Renfrew calculated that at least 100,000 hours of work may have been required. These numbers show that the monument was built through the organized effort of a large group of people over a long time.
Dating when Maeshowe was built is difficult, but burials in similar tombs date to around 3000 BC. Because Maeshowe is the largest and most advanced example of its type, archaeologists think it might be the final stage of this architectural tradition, built around 2800 BC.
Siting
Maeshowe is part of a larger Neolithic ceremonial area in central Orkney, which also includes nearby stone circles such as the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness.
Maeshowe appears as a grassy mound rising from a flat plain near the southeast end of the Loch of Harray. The land around Maeshowe likely looked similar to how it appears today when it was built: treeless, with grasses that indicate a type of plant life called "pollen assemblage zone" MNH-I. This suggests the area was used for farming, with a focus on raising animals, as shown by the presence of ribwort pollen and some cereal pollen.
Maeshowe is aligned with other Neolithic sites nearby. For example, the entrance of "Structure 8" at the Barnhouse Settlement directly faces the mound. Additionally, a stone called the "Barnhouse Stone," located about 700 meters away, is perfectly aligned with the entrance of Maeshowe. The entrance corridor is positioned so that sunlight from the setting sun enters the chamber for a few days around the winter solstice, lighting up the entrance to the back part of the chamber.
A Neolithic "low road" connects Maeshowe to the well-preserved village of Skara Brae, passing near the Standing Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. These low roads linked Neolithic ceremonial sites across Britain. Some archaeologists believe Maeshowe was originally surrounded by a large stone circle. The group of sites that includes Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness, Skara Brae, and other tombs and standing stones forms a dense collection of Neolithic places. This group is only matched in Britain by the complexes connected to Stonehenge and Avebury.
People and society
Maeshowe was built by farming groups in central Orkney during the late fourth and early third millennia BC. This shows that these people could organize large projects and spend a lot of time and effort on monuments linked to rituals and traditions about ancestors.
Archaeologists found evidence that the builders followed the cultural style connected to Grooved ware pottery. This type of pottery began in Orkney around 3000 BC and later spread across Britain and Ireland.
Building Maeshowe needed cutting, moving, and placing very large slabs of local flagstone. Estimates suggest that thousands of hours of teamwork were required to complete the monument. This indicates that many people from the community worked together and shared traditions tied to ceremonies.
Monuments like Maeshowe seem to have been important in the daily and ceremonial lives of Neolithic Orkney people. The size and visibility of the cairn suggest it was not only a burial site but also a place where people gathered for rituals connected to seasonal events and remembering ancestors.
Style
The tomb known as Maeshowe gives its name to a type of Scottish chambered cairn found only in Orkney. Maeshowe is very similar to the famous Newgrange tomb in Ireland, showing a possible connection between these two cultures. Tombs of the Maeshowe type are defined by a long, low entrance passage leading to a square or rectangular chamber, which connects to several side rooms. While there is some debate about how to classify tombs, only seven Maeshowe-type tombs are definitely known. On Mainland, in addition to Maeshowe, there are tombs at Cuween Hill, Wideford Hill, and Quanterness. The tomb at Quoyness is located on Sanday, and Vinquoy Hill is on Eday. There is also an unnamed tomb on the Holm of Papa Westray. Anna Ritchie mentions that three more Maeshowe-type tombs exist in Orkney, but she does not name or locate them.
Chambered tombs typically contain grave goods, which were found at Cuween Hill and the tomb on Holm of Papa Westray but not at Maeshowe. A passage grave is described as having a long entrance passage leading to a burial chamber.
Peter Tompkins, in 1971, suggested that the advanced engineering of Maeshowe might explain the lack of human remains found there. He compared Maeshowe to the Great Pyramid of Giza, proposing that the site was used as an observatory, calendar, and for May Day ceremonies rather than as a tomb. Tompkins studied documents about the Great Pyramid and noted that the central chamber at Maeshowe was "corbeled" (arched) like the Grand Gallery of the Great Pyramid, was carefully made level and straight, and had construction quality similar to the Great Pyramid. Instead of tomb chambers, Tompkins believed the structure had small rooms for observers. He noted that the entrance was similar to Egyptian pyramids, with a 54-foot passage that pointed like a telescope toward a stone 2,772 feet away to mark the summer solstice. A "Watchstone" to the west indicated the equinoxes, and the passage pointed to a northern star, like the pyramids of Saqqara, Dashur, and Medûm. Tompkins stated that the similarities between the pyramids and Maeshowe were "indeed amazing." He cited Professor Alexander Thom, former Chair of Engineering Science at Oxford, who wrote about the geometry and astronomical alignment of Maeshowe in 1967.
Tompkins, referencing Thom and others, explained that Maeshowe, Silbury Hill, and other ancient mounds and Neolithic structures in Britain were used as precise observatories, calendars, and beacons for travelers. They were also used in ceremonial events, such as May Day celebrations, over 4,000 years ago.
Norse intrusion and runic inscriptions
Maeshowe was not kept sealed after it was built. In the twelfth century, Norse people entered the mound and went into the central chamber. Evidence from archaeologists shows they broke into the structure from above, damaging the roof instead of using the original entrance. By that time, the monument had stood for about four thousand years. Inside the chamber, the visitors carved more than thirty runic inscriptions onto the stone walls. These carvings are the largest group of runic writings found in one place.
The carvings have different tones and messages and look more like casual messages than formal memorials. One carving says, "These runes were carved by the man most skilled in runes west of the ocean." Another reads, "Ingigerth is the most beautiful of women." Another carving states, "the man who is most skilled in runes west of the ocean carved these runes."
Many inscriptions also include the names of the people who made them, leaving brief records of the individuals who entered the monument. In total, the chamber has about thirty-three inscriptions made by several different people, showing the mound was visited multiple times during the Norse period.
Stories about Norse people entering ancient burial mounds also appear in medieval writings. A similar story is found in the Orkneyinga saga. In the saga, the mound is called Orkahaugr, meaning "Orkney mound." According to the story, a group led by Harald Maddadsson and Rognvald, Earl of More, entered the mound after being caught in a snowstorm. They later searched the chamber for treasure. Although the saga mixes real events with legends, it matches archaeological findings about Norse people entering the monument in the twelfth century.
This activity shows broader Norse traditions about ancient burial mounds. In Scandinavian folklore, these mounds were often thought to hold treasure guarded by draugar, the restless spirits of the dead. Stories about heroes searching mounds for treasure appear often in Old Norse literature.
When the chamber was opened again in the nineteenth century by researchers, the walls were covered with runic carvings. Their discovery showed a medieval period in the monument's history, preserving signs of Norse visitors who had entered the mound centuries earlier.
Modern research continues to study the runic inscriptions. Techniques like reflectance transformation imaging have been used to document the carvings in detail, revealing small marks and helping scholars understand the order in which the runes were made.
Excavation
In July 1861, the tomb was opened again by James Farrer, a person who studied ancient history and was also a member of Parliament for South Durham. Farrer, like many others who studied ancient things at that time, was not known for carefully digging at sites. John Hedges described Farrer as having a strong desire to dig, but he used rough methods, lacked creativity, and did not share his findings well.
Farrer and his workers broke through the roof of the entrance passage and found it filled with broken pieces of stone and dirt. They then worked on the top of the mound, breaking through it, and over a few days, removed all the material that had filled the main chamber completely.
They discovered famous carvings on the walls, which showed that people from Norway had entered the tomb more than 600 years before.
Archaeologists have found that the wall around the ditch was rebuilt in the 9th century. Some experts think this shows the tomb may have been used again by the Norse people, and that they were the ones who left the "treasure" found by later looters.
World Heritage status
The "Heart of Neolithic Orkney" was added to the list of World Heritage sites in December 1999. This site includes Maeshowe, Skara Brae, the Standing Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar, and other nearby locations. It is managed by Historic Environment Scotland, which describes the site in its Statement of Significance as follows:
The monuments at the center of Neolithic Orkney and Skara Brae show the achievements of people in early times and remote areas. These structures were built around the same time as the tombs of ancient Egypt’s first and second dynasties, the brick temples of Sumeria, and the first cities of the Harappa culture in India. They were also built about a century or two before the Golden Age of China. These sites are unusually well-preserved for their age and provide strong evidence of early human accomplishments far from the usual centers of civilization. Maeshowe is a remarkable example of Neolithic engineering. It is one of the earliest and most impressive building achievements of that time. Its design is simple yet strong, making it a rare example from 5,000 years ago. It shows the skill of a group of people whose other burial sites were small, narrow chambers inside smaller mounds.
Visitor centre
The Maeshowe Heart of Neolithic Orkney Visitor Centre is located in the village of Stenness on Mainland, Orkney. To visit the cairn, you must take a guided tour. Visitors begin at the Stenness centre and then travel to the monument as part of tours organized by Historic Environment Scotland.