MAESHOWE BARROW

prehistoric chambered mound located northeast of Stromness on Mainland (or Pomona) in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. The mound, probably built as a tomb for a chieftain family, was in the shape of a blunted cone, 300 feet (91 m) in circumference, and was encircled by a moat about 90 feet (27 m) from its base. The mound was probably entered from the west by a passage leading to a central apartment, the walls of which ended in a beehive roof. Maeshowe barrow has also been attributed to 10th-century Norsemen; more plausibly, a band of Norsemen at one time may have used the mound for shelter, cutting a runic record of their visit on the stones and at the same time robbing the tomb of its possessions.