Introducing ceramics 8 – the dimpled-base experiments
Dimple bases are basal sherds, with finger-impressed dimples on the interior surface, found on Early and Middle Iron Age sites right around the Atlantic coast. Read more
Category: Ceramics
Introducing ceramics 7 – colour
Coloured pot reconstructions. (📷 Cecily Webster)
By Roy Towers
One of the joys of working with ceramics within the UHI Archaeological Institute in Orkney is the opportunity to collaborate with… Read more
Introducing ceramics 6 – sticking cordons
At Structure Twelve, sometime in the decades around c. 2300 cal BC, a potter lost his temper. Fed up with their cordons falling off, they adopted a radical solution. Read more
Introducing ceramics 5 – firing
So, our Neolithic Grooved Ware is formed, dried, decorated and ready for the all-important firing. What comes next? Read more
Introducing ceramics 4 – why the changes?
The hunt is on for clues, for any evidence of change through time. If you are a historian that can come in a dusty library as you leaf through old documents. Read more
Introducing ceramics 3 – how was Neolithic pottery made?
How was Neolithic pottery made, and in particular the Grooved Ware pottery from the Ness of Brodgar? Read more
Introducing ceramics 2: The excavation process
By Roy Towers
A large sherd of decorated Grooved Ware pottery ready to be lifted. (ORCA)
Pottery is remarkable stuff. It may be broken, kicked about, scuffed and generally disrespected,… Read more
Introducing ceramics: An abundance of pottery
By Roy Towers
A coloured pottery sherd from Structure Twelve. (📷 ORCA)
When you think about the Ness of Brodgar one word which comes to mind is “abundance”…
There is… Read more
Pot sherd – before and after…
Hot off the press! A before and after shot of a classic sherd of Neolithic Grooved Ware pot from Structure Twelve.
Picture one (above) shows the sherd emerging and picture… Read more
Coloured pottery at the Ness – new paper published
A new paper - Analysis of coloured Grooved Ware sherds from the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney - has just been published on the scientific analysis of this pot in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Read more
Another sherd of coloured pottery
While Roy Towers our ceramics expert was studying some pot from the later phases of Structure Twelve, he came across another rather fine example of coloured pottery.
This body sherd… Read more
More coloured pottery from the Ness
The remarkable Neolithic ceremonial site at the Ness of Brodgar has a habit of springing surprises on those who work there.
Ceramics specialist Roy Towers from the Archaeology Institute of… Read more
Putting decorated pot, and more, under multiple spotlights!
Testing out RTI photography on pottery and decorated stone. Read more
Uncover the enigma of Grooved Ware at the Orkney Museum
Another not-to-be-missed exhibition featuring material from the Ness is running at the Orkney Museum, Kirkwall,
Tracing the Lines: Pots and People in the Late Neolithic is the brainchild of two long-term… Read more
Summer exhibition – pots and people in the Late Neolithic
Another not-to-be-missed exhibition opens this Saturday, May 5, at the Orkney Museum, Kirkwall, featuring material from the Ness.
Tracing the Lines: Pots and People in the Late Neolithic is the… Read more
