Site Older Than the Pyramids Discovered on North Sea Island

The discovery of an ancient site in the North Sea on the British island of Orkney has provided archaeologists with a remarkable “feat of engineering” that predates the renowned pyramids of Egypt by nearly a thousand years.

This Neolithic site not only showcases advanced architectural techniques for its time but also offers insights into the people who constructed it due to the presence of fourteen skeletons.

Dr. Hugo Anderson-Whymark, a senior curator of prehistoric (Neolithic) artifacts at the National Museums Scotland and one of the researchers involved in the discovery, expressed his amazement at the engineering accomplishments of this ancient site.

The tomb, which once stood as a massive structure within the landscape, featured highly impressive stonework inside.

Unacknowledged for centuries

The significance of the site was overlooked for many centuries, and there was a lot of looting during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As a result, its historical importance went unrecognized, reported The Debrief.

However, in 1896, a local farmer stumbled upon a portion of the newly discovered chamber along with eight bodies. This discovery prompted an antiquarian by the name of James Walls Cursiter to document and write about it in a local newspaper.

The site’s significance remained largely forgotten until Dr. Hugo Anderson-Whymark stumbled upon the old newspaper article. Focusing on James Walls Cursiter’s description of a “chambered cairn” discovered by the nineteenth-century farmer, Anderson-Whymark and his colleague, Professor Vicki Cummings, a neolithic archaeology expert from Cardiff University, were able to narrow down the location.

They then assembled a team of students from the University of Central Lancashire and enlisted the help of local volunteers to conduct the search.

After three weeks of dedicated excavation and exploration, the team successfully unearthed the impressive engineering marvel of the site and the human remains it held, according to The Debrief.

“We had found not only the tomb but then in situ articulated skeletons – the icing on the cake,” Anderson-Whymark stated.

The site was built nearly 1,000 years before Egypt’s pyramids

Subsequent analysis of the site revealed that it was originally constructed around 3,000 BC, meaning it is nearly a thousand years older than the Egyptian pyramids.

“They were certainly putting bodies on top of bodies, but they appear to have gone in over a period of time,” said Anderson-Whymark.

The researchers emphasized the need for further work to conduct a comprehensive inventory and in-depth analysis of the ancient site. Given its remote location and the unfortunate disregard it suffered in previous centuries, the discovery of the site is regarded as a stroke of luck.