Barnhouse artefacts bound for the Netherlands

Orkney islands Council has approved the loan of items from its museum collection to a university in the Netherlands.

An application to loan ‘the lithic assemblage’ from the Neolithic site of Barnhouse, in Stenness, to the Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University was approved by the education, leisure and housing committee.

The lithic assemblage comprises 915 flints and pitchstones, with some having been identified as small tools such as arrowheads, piercers, knives and scrapes, to less defined material such as flakes and chips.

It was heard at the meeting that all costs associated with the loan, such as transport, courier and insurance, would be met by the borrower.