View W of the interior of Stanydale Neolithic 'temple', Shetland, Scotland, UK, showing the entrance passage, two stone-lined postholes & 6 alcoves.
View W of the interior of Stanydale Neolithic 'temple', Shetland, Scotland, UK, showing the entrance passage, two postholes & six alcoves. The central passage enters through an external curved drystone facade clearly related to Neolithic heel-shaped tombs in Shetland. The inner & outer ends of the passage have a substantial sill-stone against which a portable wooden door could be secured as required. The oval hall within walls up to 4m thick measures around 12m x 9m. Six symetrically arranged alcoves are separated by stone piers which may have helped to support a roof. The two stone-packed postholes held wooden poles supporting the ridge beam of the roof - probably turf lain on a timber frame. The spruce roof posts may have arrived as driftwood from North America. Instead of a central hearth there were several small ones around the edges. If not an actual temple, the size & design of the structure suggests it was not a simple house, more like a palace, communal hall or meeting-place perhaps with both domestic & religious functions. Excavated in 1949, the 'temple' is part of a Neolithic farming settlement including four normal-sized oval houses & a field system with walls & clearance cairns.
Size: 3841px × 2729px
Location: Stanydale Neolithic Settlement (Temple), Loch of Gruting, West Mainland, Shetland, Scotland, UK
Photo credit: © Mick Sharp / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 3rd, alcoves, ancient, archaeological, archaeology, bc, bixter, britain, british, communal, domestic, drystone, entrance, great, gruting, hall, historic, house, interior, islands, isles, kingdom, large, lerwick, loch, mainland, masonry, massive, meeting-place, megalithic, millennium, monument, neolithic, oval, palace, passage, piers, postholes, prehistoric, prehistory, recesses, religious, ritual, scotland, settlement, shetland, sill, sill-stone, stanydale, stone, temple, uk, united, wall, walling, west
