Heart of Neolithic Orkney refers to a group of Neolithic monuments found on the Mainland, one of the islands of Orkney, Scotland. The name was adopted by UNESCO when it proclaimed these sites as a World Heritage Site in 1999.

Maeshowe – a unique chambered cairn and passage grave, aligned so that its central chamber is illuminated on the winter solstice. It was looted by Vikings who left one of the largest collections of runic inscriptions in the world.Standing Stones of Stenness – the four remaining megaliths of a henge, the largest of which is 6 metres (19 ft) highRing of Brodgar – a stone circle 104 metres in diameter, originally composed of 60 stones set within a circular ditch up to 3 metres deep and 10 metres wide, forming a henge monument. It has been estimated that the structure took 80,000 man-hours to constructSkara Brae – a cluster of ten houses making up Northern Europe’s best-preserved Neolithic village.Ness of Brodgar is an archaeological site between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness that has provided evidence of housing, decorated stone slabs, a massive stone wall with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic "cathedral"

Neolithic henge and stone circle in Orkney, Scotland. These are the northernmost example of circle henges in Britain.

Most henges do not contain stone circles; Brodgar Avebury, Stonehenge are exceptions). no obvious stones inside the circlepossibility remains that wooden structures, for example, may be present. monument's age remains uncertain. generally thought to have been erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC,

Ring of Brodgar

The stones are thin slabs, approximately 300 mm thick. Four, up to about 5 m high, were originally elements of a stone circle of 12 stones, laid out in an ellipse about 32 m diameter on a levelled platform of 44 m diameter surrounded by a ditch. The ditch is cut into rock by as much as 2 m and is 7 m wide, surrounded by an earth bank, with a single entrance causeway on the north side. The entrance faces towards the Neolithic Barnhouse Settlement which has been found adjacent to the Loch of Harray. The Watch Stone stands outside the circle to the north-west and is 5.6 m high. Other smaller stones include a square stone setting in the centre of the circle platform where cremated bone, charcoal and pottery were found, and animal bones were found in the ditch. The pottery links the monument to Skara Brae and Maeshowe, and the site is thought to date from at least 3000 BC.

Radio-carbon dates from the excavation show that the site dates from at least 3100BC, making the Standing Stones complex one of the earliest stone circles in Britain .

With an approximate diameter of 44 metres the earth bank had a single entrance causeway on the north side, facing the Neolithic Barnhouse settlement on the shore of the Harray loch. Little remains of the bank, or ditch, today, although traces remain visible around the stone circle.

Geological examinations of the surviving stones revealed that five different types of stone were use - a discovery that ties in with Dr Colin Richard’s theory that the stones for the monument, just like Brodgar, were brought to the site from various different, perhaps significant, locations.

Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. It consists of eight clustered housesoccupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE. Europe's most complete Neolithic village, Skara Brae gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up "The Heart of Neolithic Orkney.“Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramidscalled the "Scottish Pompeii" because of its excellent preservationBuilt by Grooved Ware peoplePastoralists-cattle, sheepTheocratic class of wise men who performed ceremonies at Maes Howe.?Cultivated barleyfishing