Le Déhus is a fine Neolithic bottle shaped Passage Chamber with four side chambers off the entrance passage. Today there are six side chambers but two were erronously constructed during restoration. Side chamber first on the right was found to contain the bones of two individuals, kneeling side by side and facing in opposite directions, their bodies being supported by tightly packed earth and shells.
The sixth capstone, originally supported by a granite pillar has the engraved depiction of a male, 'Le Gardien du Tombeau'. Eyes, mouth, beard, hands, bow and numerous other symbolic shapes can be seen with the use of oblique lighting.A large quantity of finds were recovered during excavtion. Cremated human remains, pottery, a stone axe, a copper dagger and vast quantities of limpet shells. Evidence of re-paving showed that the chamber was in use for a considerable period of time. The whole tomb is covered by a mound with a peristalith made of large stones and dry-stone walling.
References:At Knap of Howar on the island of Papa Westray, a Neolithic farmstead may be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe. Radiocarbon dating shows that it was occupied from 3700 BC to 2800 BC, earlier than the similar houses in the settlement at Skara Brae on the Orkney Mainland.
The farmstead consists of two adjacent rounded rectangular thick-walled buildings with very low doorways facing the sea. The larger and older structure is linked by a low passageway to the other building, which has been interpreted as a workshop or a second house. They were constructed on an earlier midden, and were surrounded by midden material which has protected them. There are no windows; the structures were presumably lit by fire, with a hole in the roof to let out smoke. Though they now stand close to the shore, they would have originally lain inland.