Axes, maceheads and ‘Great Wall’ revelations
Diary – Thursday, July 23, 2020
Day Fourteen
The second week of the 2012 season got under way with the discovery of a human tooth inside Structure Ten.
The single… Read more
Category: Excavation
Rare bone pins, rarer wood and an enigmatic annexe from above
Diary – Wednesday, July 22, 2020
Day Thirteen
The first week of the 2011 excavation season ended on July 22, with the discovery of a stone ball – not the… Read more
Coloured pottery, a Bronze Age arrowhead and an ‘eyebrow’ motif – a day of firsts for the Ness
Diary – Tuesday, July 21, 2020
Day Twelve
Colour was the theme on this day nine years ago.
Not only did we have another coloured stone within the walls of… Read more
GIS – recording finds on a 3D site map
The position of everything found during excavation is recorded digitally in three dimensions. You will know that is what is happening when you see two people shouting numbers at each… Read more
Human arm bone added to list of Structure Ten buttress deposits
Diary – Monday, July 20, 2020Day Eleven
2011: Ray reveals the first hints of the third hearth in Structure Eight. (📷 ORCA)
There’s nothing like sifting through our archives to… Read more
Awe and wonder in an age of reason – taking visitors to the Ness of Brodgar excavations
By Peter Yeoman
The greatest thing about a visit to the Ness is that it peoples the landscape of deep time, in a way that other prehistoric sites on Orkney… Read more
Threshold disappointment and a new rock art design revealed
Diary – Friday, July 17, 2020
Day Ten
It was day two on this day in 2012 and although the uncovering process had gone remarkably quickly, site… Read more
Decorated ‘dotted’ stone was a first for the Ness
Diary – Thursday, July 16, 2020
Day Nine
There was a new look to the site when the excavation team turned up on Monday, July 16, 2012.… Read more
A spectacular incised slab – the first of many in 2019
Diary – Wednesday, July 15, 2020
Day Eight
As mentioned yesterday, we’re now reaching the point where the pre-2015, six-week excavations on site start getting under way.
… Read more
A remarkable pottery sherd…
Diary – Tuesday, July 14, 2020Day Seven
2014: The last of the stones holding down the protective covers are removed from Structure Twelve. (📷 ORCA)
Six years ago today, the… Read more
Hints there’s something beyond Structure Twelve’s entrance…
Diary – Monday, July 13, 2020Day Six
Colin reveal a new pecked design in the east entrance to Structure Twelve. (📷 ORCA)
We’re back for week two and looking out… Read more
The art of archaeological planning
Cecily planning Structure Seven way back in 2007. (📷 ORCA)
Alice planning in the Central Midden Area. (📷 ORCA)
Visit the Ness site at any time during an excavation season… Read more
Seaweed, a standing stone and the ‘corner of loveliness’ revealed
Dig Diary – Friday, July 10, 2020
Day Five
Here we are at the end of what would have been the first week of the 2020 excavation… Read more
Diary – Thursday, July 9, 2020
Day Four
Sorry folks but once again I start this diary with the weather.
But in 2015 it was foul, meaning much of Thursday, July 9, 2015, was taken up… Read more
Diary – Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Day Three
This day, five years ago, will long be remembered as a historical milestone in the history of the Ness of Brodgar excavation.
It wasn’t because of any astonishing… Read more
Diary – Tuesday, July 7, 2020
Day Two
You may be wondering why our first diary of 2020 concentrated only on excavation from 2015 onwards. The reason is that before 2015 our fieldwork seasons lasted only… Read more
Diary – Monday, July 6, 2020
Day One
And we’re off.
Believe me it’s really strange to be sitting down to write a Ness “dig” diary while not caked in mud and soaking wet!
Today we… Read more
Tyres, covers and sandbags
Moving tyres in Trench T. (2018)
The bulk of the tyres gone, work to remove the protective covers in Trench P begins (2019).… Read more
