Day Fourteen Revelations and cloud dodging Oh what would we give for a day of uninterrupted excavation! Thursday dawned bright and reasonably clear and as the morning wore on the site and digger alike basked in the warmth of the sun. Then it went wrong. Clouds rolled in and within …
This weekend sees our first “Special Sunday” of the season. The excavation site will be open to the public from 11am until 4pm, with diggers working on site all day. In addition to tours running continuously throughout the day, there will be a number of other things to do and …
Perhaps not as grand as the examples earlier this week, but another decorated stone slab was found in Structure Eight today. The incised decoration is essentially the same “classic” banded design featured on Monday’s stone very ephemeral and faint.
Rain brought excavation to a halt early today. But here’s a selection of pictures. Click on a thumbnail for a larger version. Photographs by Jo Bourne and Sigurd Towrie.
Day Thirteen Raising the threshold stone This is the day that all true aficionados of Structure Ten have longed for. Over the years the massive threshold stone in the very entrance of the structure has been the source of fevered speculation. It’s a threshold stone…it is in a crucial position …
Decorated Stone Removed from Structure Eight/Seventeen on July 15, 2019
After yesterday’s discovery, we thought it couldn’t get any better. Then today, as the weary excavators began making their way home, the Structure Eight team emerged from the building clutching another large decorated stone. This stone is decidedly different, however. Instead of the incised chevrons, triangles and zigzags we’ve come …
Day Twelve A definite air of anticipation… Another day of splendid weather (mostly) saw great progress made all across the Ness today. And after yesterday’s discovery of the incised stone slab in Structure Eight/Structure Seventeen there was a definite air of anticipation on site as diggers gathered outside dig HQ …
Drone aerial footage of the Ness of Brodgar excavation site today from Professor Scott Pike of Willamette University, Oregon, USA.
Structure Eight – or more correctly an earlier building lying beneath it – produced another stunning example of Neolithic decorate stone today. The stone, pictured above, was spotted by Lorna in the extraordinary light that raked across the site this morning. It features four bands of decoration, but areas appear to …
Day Eleven Glorious sunshine greets new arrivals Today is sunny, hot and one of those exceedingly rare Orkney days when the wind has decided to go elsewhere. It has been the perfect introduction for the students from the University of the Highlands and Islands and from Willamette University in Oregon, …
