Benie Hoose facts for kids

Benie Hoose, also called Bunyie Hoose, is a very old site from the Neolithic age. This means it was built a long time ago, during the New Stone Age. You can find it in the northeastern part of Whalsay, which is one of the Shetland Islands in Scotland.

This ancient building is quite close to other important historical spots. It's about 90 meters (100 yards) northwest of the Standing Stones of Yoxie. It's also around 140 meters southeast of the Pettigarths Field Cairns. Benie Hoose and Yoxie seem to be connected, perhaps like a pair of buildings used together.

Archaeologists dug up Benie Hoose in 1954 and 1955. A man named Charles S. T. Calder led this work. He found many interesting items there. These items were later given to the National Museum of Scotland for everyone to see and learn from.

What Benie Hoose Looks Like

Benie Hoose has a very unique shape, like a figure eight. It is located near the lower slopes of a hill called Gamla Vord. The front of the building is curved and has a special horn-shaped courtyard. This design is different from many other ancient homes found in the area.

The main part of Benie Hoose is about 24 meters (80 feet) long and 12 meters (40 feet) wide. The front courtyard is about 9.7 meters (32 feet) wide. The main building faces towards the hill. Its walls are made from dry stones and are very thick, about 4 meters (13 feet) wide.

Inside, there was a passage about 4 meters (13 feet) long that led from the entrance. The building also had a clever drainage system. This system helped keep the inside of the house dry, even during wet weather. The floor of the main room was made of stone. The D-shaped courtyard might have been used to keep animals. No stone furniture was found, so people probably used wooden furniture that has since disappeared.

Tools and Other Finds

When archaeologists dug at Benie Hoose, they found a lot of tools and querns. Querns are special stones used for grinding grain, like making flour. Finding so many tools suggests that people lived and worked here.

The name "Benie Hoose" might mean "Bone House" or "graveyard." Another idea is that it comes from an old Norse word, "Boenhus," which means "a house of prayer" or a small chapel. This suggests the building might have had a religious purpose.

Some of the things found include:

• 33 trough querns (grinding stones)
• About 1,800 different tools, like axes and hammer stones
• Pot lids and pieces of pottery
• A handle from a pot made of steatite (a type of soft stone)
• A steatite spindle whorl (used for spinning thread)

Because of its design and its location near Yoxie, some experts think Benie Hoose might have been where important people lived. They might have been priests who performed ceremonies at the nearby Yoxie stones.

Nearby Stone Cairns

Archaeologists also explored the area around Benie Hoose earlier, between 1936 and 1938. They found two stone piles called Pettigarths Field Cairns about 140 meters (460 feet) northwest of Benie Hoose.

One cairn is square-shaped, about 6 meters (20 feet) across, with a circular entrance. The other cairn is smaller and round, about 4.5 meters (15 feet) wide, and has a rectangular stone box inside called a cist. These cairns are believed to be tombs from the Late Stone Age and Early Bronze Age.