Standing Stones of Yoxie
The Standing Stones of Yoxie are a Neolithic group of standing stones on the north-eastern coast of Whalsay, in Shetland.[1] The site is located approximately 100 yards south-east of Benie Hoose, a Neolithic habitation, not far from the steep cliffs of Yoxie Geo.[2] The site is also known as "Yoxie Biggins".[3]
The structure is the remains of a building in a Neolithic settlement called Pettigarths Field, about 4,000 years old, which also includes a megalithic tomb[4] and Benie Hoose.[5] The site has been compared to that of the Hal Tarxien temple in Malta.[6]
Layout
- Location map:60°21’59"N, -0°56’14"W
The earlier assessment that the monument was built as a standing stone grouping has since been revised. It is now known to consist of a building partitioned into rooms.[7] The "standing stones" name is derived from the fact that the walls were built in part from megaliths, many of them still erect.[3] The building was once about 60 feet by 36 feet in size, but little remains of the northern part. There is a main L-shaped block to the west, and a smaller forecourt to the east. There are no traces of door fixtures. A paved passage lined with stone boulders runs through the house, and traces of the paving continue through a circular room that it divides into two recessed sections.[8]
Usage
The site seems to have been occupied for a long period of time.[3]
A local belief has grown up that the stones were used for ceremonies by Druid priests who lived at Benie Hoose,[9] though the stones were erected 2,000 years before there were druids. Despite this the excavator, C.S.T. Calder, interpreted Yoxie as the remains of a temple, and Benie Hoose as a house that may have been used by the priests.[10] He felt there were indications that this structure, and another similar one at Stanydale on Mainland, Shetland, were used for religious purposes.
If Calder’s speculation is right, Yoxie and Stanydale would be the first known temples in the British Isles.[11] However, early and middle Neolithic society does not appear to have had complex social structures such as a priestly caste.[12] It is now thought that both Yoxie and Benie are simply prehistoric houses.
Artefacts
Artefacts and material from the early and late Bronze Ages have been found.[13]
Some of the finds are Iron Age,[14] while some date to the original Neolithic age settlement and others to a later occupation of the site in Iron Age.[8]
Pottery remains have been found in both houses.[10] One large vessel found in Yoxie was very similar to a plain Bipartite Urn, possibly used for storing barley.[15]
More than 120 tools made of stone in a crude form have been unearthed in Yoxie.
References
- ↑ CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Whalsay, Standing Stones of Yoxie
- ↑ Whalsay, Standing Stones of Yoxie.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Reid & Humphreys 2011, p. 829.
- ↑ Norwich 2002, p. 650.
- ↑ Fowler & Sharp 1990, p. 30.
- ↑ Cluness 1967, p. 163.
- ↑ Wainwright 1962, p. 32.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Castleden 1992, p. 337.
- ↑ Miers 2006, p. 545.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 MacSween & Sharp 1990, p. 30.
- ↑ Wainwright 1962, p. 35.
- ↑ Castleden 1992, p. 330.
- ↑ Downes & Lamb 2000, p. 122.
- ↑ Laing 1974, p. 71.
- ↑ Burgess 2003, p. 221.
- Balneaves, Elizabeth (1977). The windswept isles: Shetland and its people. Gifford. p. 32. https://books.google.com/books?id=iEKCAAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- Burgess, Colin (January 2003). Age of Stonehenge. Book Sales. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-7858-1593-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=i58Lb8yZ7xoC. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- Castleden, Rodney (1992). Neolithic Britain: New Stone Age Sites of England, Scotland, and Wales. Routledge. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-415-05845-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=-wYOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA337. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- Cluness, Andrew T. (1967). The Shetland Book. Zetland, Scotland Education Committee. p. 163. https://books.google.com/books?id=LZsrAQAAMAAJ. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- Downes, Jane; Lamb, Raymond (2000). Prehistoric houses at Sumburgh in Shetland: excavations at Sumburgh Airport 1967-74. Oxbow Books. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-84217-003-8. https://books.google.com/books?id=VrpnAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- Fowler, P. J.; Sharp, Mick (1990). Images of Prehistory. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-35646-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=B1C-0lOVF_wC&pg=PA30. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
- Hutton, Ronald (2009). Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14485-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=3EIhuFN48UoC&pg=PA9. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- Laing, Lloyd Robert (1974). Orkney and Shetland: an archaeological guide. David & Charles. p. 71. https://books.google.com/books?id=GreCAAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- MacSween, Ann; Sharp, Mick (1990-05-01). Prehistoric Scotland. New Amsterdam. https://books.google.com/books?id=wx8pAQAAMAAJ. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- Miers, Richenda (1 September 2006). Scotland. New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86011-339-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=crxqdevlel8C&pg=PA545. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
- Mountain, Harry (1998-06-01). The Celtic Encyclopedia. Universal-Publishers. ISBN 978-1-58112-894-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=MN9AQ9ZLZ2oC&pg=PA1204. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- Norwich, John Julius (30 December 2002). Treasures of Britain: The Architectural, Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Britain. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 650–. ISBN 978-0-393-05740-9. https://books.google.com/books?id=vVqks58peDcC&pg=PA650. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
- Reid, Donald; Humphreys, Rob (2011-05-02). The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands & Islands. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-4053-8942-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=03bp8bYJHDYC&pg=PT829. Retrieved 2013-02-04.
- Wainwright, Frederick Threlfall (1962). The Northern Isles. Nelson. https://books.google.com/books?id=3B21AAAAIAAJ. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
| Prehistoric Shetland | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Neolithic |
Benie Hoose • Funzie Girt • Hjaltadans Stone Circle • Pettigarths Field Cairns • Scord of Brouster • Standing Stones of Yoxie • Stanydale Temple • Vementry | ||
| Iron Age brochs |
Clickimin • Culswick • Mousa • Burra Ness • Clumlie • Huxter • Ness of Burgi • Snabrough • West Burrafirth | ||
| Pictish | Mixed period | ||