The 5, 000 Year Old Dwarfie Stane: Legends of British Giants and Dwarfs, Ancient Architects

The Dwarfie Stane, a 5, 000yearold, Neolithic rockcut tomb has attracted curiosity for centuries, has had many famous visitors and has many stories attached to it. Located on a steepsided glaciated valley between the settlements of Quoys and Rackwick on Hoy, an island in Orkney, Scotland, what we are looking at is a huge glacial erratic boulder, made of Devonian Old Red sandstone and deposited in desolate peatland. The enormous boulder has been cut into to create a Neolithic tomb but the small chambers, being too small to stand up in, are thought to have given rise to stories of legendary dwarfs in ancient Scotland.