Public donations meet the cost of 2014 dig viewing platform

platform

A busy viewing platform during one of the daily site tours in 2013.

An online appeal, to help cover the cost of the public viewing platform at the Ness of Brodgar excavation site, has exceeded its £2,000 target — within three days of its launch.

Previous years have seen the viewing platform, which is an integral part of the daily site tours, sponsored by local organisations and businesses.

But this year, efforts to attract sponsorship were fruitless, with the excavators needing to raise cash to allow the platform to be erected and maintained for the duration of the six-week excavation.

The appeal — set up by archaeologist and tour guide Caz Mamwell — reached its target last night, with donations from all over the world.

Ness of Brodgar exacavation supervisor Nick Card, from the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA), said that the viewing gallery has become a vital, and popular, part of the Ness of Brodgar experience.

“This is an amazing result – to fulfil this target in such a short space of time again reflects the interest the Ness has generated around the world. We would like to thank all the support we have received from both Orkney and the wider community, and Caz Mamwell of Orkney Archaeological Tours for arranging this. We do hope that you will all be able to come and experience this for yourselves.”

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