Mine Howe

Mine Howe is an Iron Age subterranean chamber dug 6 metres deep inside a large mound near Tankerness, Orkney, Scotland. Twenty-nine steep stone steps descend to a corbelled chamber over 4 metres high, with two low galleries branching from a halfway landing. First excavated in 1946 and misidentified as a broch, it was rediscovered by farmer Douglas Paterson in 1999. Surrounded by a massive causewayed ditch, excavations revealed evidence of metalworking and ritual activity, with the central structure dating to the early Iron Age.