‘Incredibly rare’ skeletons discovered in 5,000-year-old tomb off coast of Scotland

Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of an “incredibly rare” 5,000-year-old tomb in Orkney, off the northeastern coast of Scotland.

The Neolithic site at Holm, East Mainland, is believed to have been largely destroyed in the 19th century.

National Museums Scotland (NMS) and Cardiff University rediscovered the tomb after a search for its precise location, where archaeologists found 14 skeletons of men, women and children.

The three-week excavation led by Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark, of NMS, and Cardiff University’s professor Vicki Cummings, has revealed traces of a stone cairn 15m in diameter, which had contained a 7m-long passage.

Archaeologists say a stone chamber lay at the centre of the cairn, and was surrounded by six smaller cells.