Standing Stones of Yoxie

The Standing Stones of Yoxie is a Neolithic site in the parish of Nesting on the northeastern coast of Whalsay, in the Shetland islands of Scotland. It is located approximately 100 yards (91 m) to the southeast of Benie Hoose, not far from the steep cliffs of Yoxie Geo.[1] The site is also known as "Yoxie Biggins".[2] 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[3] and Benie Hoose.[4] The site has been compared to that of Hal Tarxien.[5]

Standing Stones of Yoxie
Standing Stones
LocationShetland, Scotland
Coordinates60.36647°N 0.937092°W / 60.36647; -0.937092
BuiltNeolithic age
Standing Stones of Yoxie location in Whalsay, Shetland

Layout

The earlier assessment that the monument was a standing stone grouping has since been revised. It is now known to consist of a building partitioned into rooms.[6] The "standing stones" name is derived from the fact that the walls were built in part from megaliths, many of them still erect.[2] The building was once about 18 by 11 metres (59 by 36 ft) 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.[7]

Usage

The site seems to have been occupied for a long period of time.[2] There is a local belief that the stones were used for ceremonies by Druid priests who lived at Benie Hoose[8] – or even that druids still live there.[9] However, the ruins are 4,000 years old.[4] There is no written mention of Druids before around 200 BC, and no reliable sources even from later periods.[10] 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.[11] He felt there were indications that this structure, and another similar one at Stanydale on Mainland, Shetland, were used for religious purposes. If so, they would have been the first known temples in the British Isles.[12] The placement and layout of the Benie Hoose and Yoxie seem very close to records of temples and priestly dwellings in Malta.[13]

However, early and middle neolithic society does not appear to have had complex social structures such as a priestly caste.[14] It is now thought that both Yoxie and Benie are prehistoric houses.

Artifacts

Artifacts and material from the early and late Bronze Ages have been found.[15] Some of the finds are Iron Age,[16] while some date to the original Neolithic age settlement and others to a later occupation of the site in Iron Age.[7] Pottery remains have been found in both houses.[11] One large vessel found in Yoxie was very similar to a plain Bipartite Urn, possibly used for storing barley.[17] More than 120 tools made of stone in a crude form have been unearthed in Yoxie.

References

Citations

  1. Whalsay, Standing Stones of Yoxie.
  2. Reid & Humphreys 2011, p. 829.
  3. Norwich 2002, p. 650.
  4. Fowler & Sharp 1990, p. 30.
  5. Cluness 1967, p. 163.
  6. Wainwright 1962, p. 32.
  7. Castleden 1992, p. 337.
  8. Miers 2006, p. 545.
  9. Mountain 1998, p. 1204.
  10. Hutton 2009, p. 9.
  11. MacSween & Sharp 1990, p. 30.
  12. Wainwright 1962, p. 35.
  13. Balneaves 1977, p. 32.
  14. Castleden 1992, p. 330.
  15. Downes & Lamb 2000, p. 122.
  16. Laing 1974, p. 71.
  17. Burgess 2003, p. 221.

Sources

  • Balneaves, Elizabeth (1977). The windswept isles: Shetland and its people. Gifford. p. 32. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Burgess, Colin (January 2003). Age of Stonehenge. Book Sales. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-7858-1593-8. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Castleden, Rodney (1992). Neolithic Britain: New Stone Age Sites of England, Scotland, and Wales. Routledge. p. 337. ISBN 978-0-415-05845-2. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Cluness, Andrew T. (1967). The Shetland Book. Zetland, Scotland Education Committee. p. 163. Retrieved 6 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • 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. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Fowler, P. J.; Sharp, Mick (1990). Images of Prehistory. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-35646-6. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Hutton, Ronald (2009). Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14485-7. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Laing, Lloyd Robert (1974). Orkney and Shetland: an archaeological guide. David & Charles. p. 71. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • MacSween, Ann; Sharp, Mick (1 May 1990). Prehistoric Scotland. New Amsterdam. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Miers, Richenda (1 September 2006). Scotland. New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-1-86011-339-0. Retrieved 3 January 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Mountain, Harry (1 June 1998). The Celtic Encyclopedia. Universal-Publishers. ISBN 978-1-58112-894-9. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • 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. Retrieved 6 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Reid, Donald; Humphreys, Rob (2 May 2011). The Rough Guide to Scottish Highlands & Islands. Penguin. ISBN 978-1-4053-8942-6. Retrieved 4 February 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wainwright, Frederick Threlfall (1962). The Northern Isles. Nelson. Retrieved 3 January 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "Whalsay, Standing Stones of Yoxie". Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
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