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Ancient monument

The Westray Wife

Links of Noltland, Westray

A tiny carved figure with the oldest known face in Britain.

In 2009 archaeologists at the Links of Noltland found a sandstone figure just four centimetres tall. It has two dot eyes under heavy brows.

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When
Neolithic
Where
59.3300, -2.9800
Group
Circles & monuments

Visiting

Westray is reached by ferry from Kirkwall.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
From the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

It is only four centimetres tall, about the size of a matchbox. It is a human figure with a face.

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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