In this talk for the 2020 Orkney Science Festival, site director Nick Card outlines the scientific techniques involved in excavation and post-excavation work and is joined by two colleagues from the Archaeology Institute...
Diary – Friday, August 14, 2020 Day Thirty The weather saw excavation on this day in 2012 cancelled. Torrential rain lashed the site for much of the day, leaving surfaces dangerously slippy and the...
Diary – Thursday, August 13, 2020 Day Twenty-Nine We begin today with another pillow stone – this time from Structure Fourteen in 2013. The beautifully polished stone, similar to the two red examples from...
Diary – Wednesday, August 12, 2020 Day Twenty-Seven It was all go on in Structure Ten on this day in 2011. Further excavation of the central hearth revealed it to be huge – some...
In 2012, Jim Richardson visited the Ness to capture images for a planned National Geographic feature article. The resultant images were truly awe-inspiring and today, thanks to Jim’s generosity, we’re able to share a ...
Diary – Tuesday, August 12, 2020 Day Twenty-Seven The size and grandeur of Structure Ten continued to get clearer on this day in 2011. The secondary insertions and wall lines in the building’s interior...
Diary – Monday, August 10, 2020 Day Twenty-Six The 2011 investigation of the area around the presumed entrance to Structure Ten struck gold today – wall lines! These, however, were not what was expected...
Diggers and Finds Team volunteers come from far and wide to excavate the Ness of Brodgar but there is also a core of folk in Orkney who give their summers to the site. On...
Dig Diary – Friday, August 7, 2020 Day Twenty-Five It was officially given a name on August 6, 2018, but it was on this day in 2012 that the first signs of Structure Thirty-One...
The recovery of large artefacts, such as stone tools and pottery, is just one part of the excavation process. What about the tiny items and organic material that are a vital part of...