Maeshowe
Inside a 5,000-year-old Orkney tomb, the midwinter sunset shines down the passage, and Vikings carved runes on the walls.
What was reported
Maeshowe is a Stone Age chambered tomb on Orkney's Mainland: a grassy mound over a long stone passage and a central chamber of finely fitted slabs, built around 2800 BC.
For a few weeks around the winter solstice, the setting sun shines straight down the passage and lights the back wall. In the 12th century, Norse visitors broke in and carved more than 30 runic inscriptions, some boasting of treasure, some jokes, and a carving of a dragon.
Explanations offered
The solstice alignment is widely accepted as deliberate, linking the tomb to the turning of the year. The Viking graffiti is one of the largest collections of runic inscriptions anywhere. It's part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.
- When
- Built around 2800 BC
- Where
- Stenness, Orkney, Scotland
- Witnesses
- Archaeologists, and Vikings who left graffiti
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.