A hearth in Maeshowe?
Back in 2016, a nineteenth century sketch had us pondering whether there might be more to Maeshowe than we see today. Read more
Category: Around the Ness
Maeshowe and the winter solstice
With its south-westerly facing entrance, Maeshowe’s best known attribute is its orientation towards the setting sun around midwinter. Read more
A standing stone at Maeshowe and the structure that lies beneath
The solstice, an earlier building and standing stone and Norse runes. Read more
Destruction and reconstruction at the Stones of Stenness
In December 1814, disaster struck the Stones of Stenness when a tenant farmer took it upon himself to obliterate them. Read more
The Stones of Stenness
The second stone circle in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage site is now most commonly known as the Stones of Stenness. Read more
Unstan stalled cairn, Stenness
In the late 19th century, the Knowe of Onston was opened and found to contain the remains of a Neolithic stalled cairn. Read more
Howastedgarth – the old name for the Ring of Brodgar?
We finished last week with George Marwick’s claimed “old name” for the Ring of Brodgar – Howastedgarth. I first stumbled across it in 2012, in a transcription of a talk given by Marwick. Read more
The Ring of Brodgar
With a diameter of 103.6m (340ft), the Ring of Brodgar is the larger of the two stone circles in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site and one of the biggest in the British Isles. Read more
The ‘Little Barnhouse’ mound
Just outside Stenness village, and opposite the Standing Stones Hotel, is a large oval mound. The tumulus was given scheduled monument status in 2002 and assigned the name “Little Barnhouse”. Read more
The Comet Stone
On low ground 140 metres (153 yards) east of the Ring of Brodgar is the monolith now commonly known as the Comet Stone. Read more
A natural cursus? Water, walls and walking the Ness
Previously we saw that the Dyke of Sean was perhaps once one of three — or possibly four — walls that ran the width of the Ness of Brodgar in the Neolithic. Did these define specific areas – dividing the isthmus into distinct segments of “graded” space – and controlled movement and visibility through them? Read more
The Dyke of Sean – a third monumental wall crossing the Ness
The Dyke of Sean, a suspected prehistoric earthwork near the Ring of Brodgar, fascinates visitors with its monumental size. It measures up to seven metres wide and a metre high, spanning 500 meters between the Stenness and Harray lochs. Despite unclear dating, masonry suggests a Neolithic origin. Read more
Agents of transformation – chambered cairns in Neolithic Orkney
Maeshowe interior. (📷 Jim Richardson)
The presence of two main styles of Neolithic chambered cairn in Orkney has led to years of debate on their dates, use and development.
Here,… Read more
The Watchstone
One of Orkney's most imposing standing stones, the Watchstone dominates the south-eastern end of the Brig o’ Brodgar – the place where the Harray and Stenness lochs meet. Read more
Ness flanked by lochs in prehistory? Surveys suggest otherwise
The Ness of Brodgar sits at the centre of a massive natural "cauldron" formed by the hills of the surrounding landscape. Today, it is accentuated on either side by the freshwater Loch of Harray and the saltwater Loch of Stenness - but that was not always the case. Read more
Solved! The perplexing puzzle of the Stones of Stenness ‘building’
The Standing Stones of Stenness (1906).
There’s nothing like finally getting to the bottom of an irksome puzzle. In this case, the puzzle related to an old photograph of the… Read more
Roadwork in 2013 revealed structure beyond the ‘Great Wall’
A section of the six-metre-long section of walling uncovered during work to insert a passing place opposite the site entrance in 2013. (📷 ORCA)
The location of the 2013 trench… Read more
Antiquarian delvings on the Ness
Evidence for earlier excavations at the Ness - probably in the early 1880s - has come to light in a handwritten note from the papers, manuscripts and notebooks kept by James Walls Cursiter. Read more
Rivalries in Neolithic Orkney outlined in new ‘Antiquity’ study
A new study, published in the journal Antiquity, is challenging the previously understood narrative for Neolithic Orkney. Read more
