2008 excavation report available to download
The next in our series of excavation reports is now available, with the 2008 document free to download here. Read more
Author: Sigurd
Link: Danish archaeologists propose Late Neolithic volcanic eruption turned the skies dark over northern Europe
Archaeologists and climate scientists from the University of Copenhagen have proposed a large volcanic eruption around 2900BC “made the sun disappear throughout Northern Europe”. Read more
The Knowe of Lairo – remodelled to emulate Maeshowe or something completely different?
This week we're looking at the Knowe of Lairo in Rousay - another enigmatic Neolithic chambered cairn unlike any other in Orkney. But what was going on? Read more
Capturing the essence of excavation in paint
A selection of Jeanne Rose's trench-side sketches-in-paint from the 2024 dig season. Read more
Link: New research suggests differing mortuary practices in Rousay cairn
A new paper looking at the bone assemblage from the Rousay’s Knowe of Rowiegar suggests that human remains were placed at different stages of decomposition in a more complex, muti-stage process for handling the dead. Read more
Getting to the bottom of Structure Five’s central hearth
PhD candidate Sarah-Jane Haston on her experience of excavating Structure Five's central hearth in 2024. Read more
Structure Twenty-Seven updated
Structure Twenty-Seven's page has been updated to include the findings from the 2024 excavation season. Read more
Link: Ness of Brodgar back on the pages of Smithsonian Magazine
The Smithsonian Magazine's new article on the 2024 Ness of Brodgar excavation season is now online. Read more
2024’s top finds – Twenty-Seven’s decorated entrance orthostat
We conclude our look at some of our favourite discoveries of the 2024 season with the incised entrance orthostat in Structure Twenty-Seven. Read more
2024’s top finds – incised stone slab from Structure Twenty
Another beautiful example of an incised stone slab, this time from Structure Ten's predecessor. Read more
2024’s top finds – worked bone
Soil acidity at the Ness means worked bone and bone tools are something of a rarity. But 2024 saw four well-preserved examples emerge. Read more
2024’s top finds – the decorated clay cylinder from Structure Twenty
The remarkable, but enigmatic, object found in Structure Twenty, underneath Structure Ten. Read more
2024’s top finds – child’s tooth from a stone box in Structure Thirty-Four
Another of the season's most surprising finds – a child’s milk tooth from one of the orthostatic boxes in Structure Thirty-Four. Read more
2024’s top finds – another two of Ceiridwen’s decorated stones
Another two of the five decorated stones found by Ceiridwen in and around Structure Seventeen in 2024. Read more
Video: The dead of winter – Maeshowe and the solstice
Today, Saturday, December 21, is the winter solstice - a day inextricably linked to Maeshowe in Stenness. Read more
The centre of their world – a place where heaven, earth and people met
By natural coincidence the Ness of Brodgar peninsula roughly lines up with a solstice axis. Is this one of the reason's the area became a magnet to people for millennia? Read more
