Ancient site · Scotland · Partial ruin
Knap of Howar
The Knap of Howar is a Neolithic farmstead on Papa Westray, Orkney, consisting of two adjacent thick-walled rounded rectangular stone houses with very low doorways facing the sea. The stone walls, internal hearths and built furniture survive to eaves height, giving a clear sense of domestic interiors from the Neolithic occupation.
First raised
3699 BC
Its prime
3800 BC
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 3800 BC
What Knap of Howar looked like in its prime.
Two adjacent rounded-rectangular houses built of local flat stone slabs, their walls surviving to about 1.6 m eaves height, low rectangular doorways facing seawards, and grassy turf topping the wall lines where roofs of timber with thatch or turf once sat. Interiors contain stone hearths, a stone-built cupboard and low partition screens; the buildings sit on midden material and open to a low-lying grassy shoreline with the sea visible beyond.
Its story
The story of Knap of Howar.
A Neolithic Farmstead on Papa Westray, 3800 to 2800 BC
The Knap of Howar is a Neolithic farmstead which may be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe. Radiocarbon dating shows occupation from 3800 BC to 2800 BC, earlier than the similar houses in the settlement at Skara Brae on the Orkney Mainland. The farmstead is a pair of adjacent rounded rectangular buildings with thick stone walls and very low doorways facing the sea, the larger and older linked by a low passageway to the second, which has been interpreted either as a workshop or as another house. Both were built on an earlier midden and surrounded by midden material, which has protected them.
Cattle, Barley and Unstan Ware from the Middens
Evidence from the middens shows that the people here kept cattle, sheep and pigs, cultivated barley and wheat, and gathered shellfish as well as fishing for species that must have been line-caught from boats. Finds of finely made and decorated Unstan ware pottery link them to chambered cairn tombs nearby and to sites far afield including Balbridie and Eilean Domhnuill.
Standing Walls, a Norse Name and Historic Scotland's Care
The walls still stand to an eaves height of 1.6 metres, and a hearth and a stone-built cupboard survive inside; the fireplaces, partition screens, beds and storage shelves are almost intact. The roof is gone, though post holes indicate its structure and it was likely of wood, thatched or turfed. The name Howar is believed to derive from the Old Norse haugr, meaning mounds or barrows. The site has been a scheduled monument since 1994 and is in the care of Historic Scotland.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 3800 BC.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Knap of Howar, including 6 interiors: doorway threshold looking into main house, main house hearth, stone-built cupboard niche and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.
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