Trench P from a cherry picker – August 2010
These days when we need a picture of the site from above, Professor Scott Pike sends up his drone.
Back in 2010, “aerial” photographs relied on photographic towers or, in… Read more
Category: Excavation
Visitor information boards available to download
Each excavation season we have a series of information boards placed across the site for the benefit of the thousands of visitors we welcome each year.
Unfortunately, this year we… Read more
New additions to download archive
Two new PDFs are now available in our downloads archive.
The first, Painting a picture of Neolithic Orkney: decorated stonework from the Ness of Brodgar, is a paper by dig… Read more
Clickable trench views now online
When it comes to the Ness, the sheer number of Neolithic structures can be a little daunting when reading about the archaeology.
We’re currently sitting at 36 on site –… Read more
Debitage confirms pitchstone knapping in Structure Eight
With Travis, it is not enough to find just one piece of pitchstone – within hours of finding the rather nice blade yesterday, he appeared clutching a finds bag from… Read more
Another pitchstone fragment from the Ness
Another flake of Arran pitchstone has turned up during the analysis of soil samples from Structure Eight.
Pitchstone is a volcanic glass, similar to obsidian, and its nearest source is… Read more
Video – Trench P in 2008
Looking back it’s incredible to see the changes in the site over the past 12 years!
This short video – it was a test, hence the terrible quality – shows… Read more
From the Art Hut
This year the Art Hut hosted four artists: Jeanne Bouza Rose, Diane Eagles, Karen Wallis, and Annie Wright.
For the first four weeks of the excavation, Annie Wright took photos… Read more
Trench J in all its 3D glory…
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Trench J, and with it Structures Five and Thirty-Two and the “Great Wall of Brodgar”, may have been covered… Read more
A day of sandbags, tarps and tyres…
It’s been a long, hard day of manual labour in some not-so-pleasant weather conditions, but we’ve covered over around 90 percent of the site.
Aided by volunteers from the public… Read more
Dig Diary – Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Day Thirty-Eight
Physical traces of a Neolithic potter?
This, dear readers, is our last diary of the 2019 excavation season at the Ness.
You will have realised that there are… Read more
Dig Diary – Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Day Thirty-SevenHuman bone and a standing stone…
Andy Boyar excavating the human ulna within Structure Ten this afternoon. (📷 Ole Thoenies)
Andy excavating the fragile human arm bone in Structure… Read more
…and another potential standing stone
And with two days to go, it seems we might have yet another standing stone in Trench P.
More details to follow…… Read more
Second human arm bone found inside Structure Ten
A very interesting day in Structure Ten today, where a second human arm bone was found in association with the south-western buttress inside the building.
We’re writing today’s blog post… Read more
Dig Diary – Monday, August 19, 2019
Day Thirty-Six
Last week syndrome…
There is such a thing in Orcadian archaeology as “last week syndrome” when, as everything winds down towards the end of the excavation, something interesting… Read more
Dig Diary – Sunday, August 18, 2019
Day Thirty-Five
Sunshine and crowds at the Ness
Our second and final ‘Special Sunday’ open day of the season took place today, with over 1,000 visitors recorded at the excavation… Read more
Day Thirty-Four in pictures . . .
A selection of pictures from across the site from Jo and Sigurd.
Click on the images for larger versions.… Read more
Aerial shots from Day Thirty-Four
A selection of drone shots from yesterday from Professor Scott Pike.… Read more
Dig Diary – Thursday, August 15, 2019
Day Thirty-Four
Paperwork, plans and finds
With just days to go until the 2019 excavation draws to a close, the site was abuzz with activity today.
Needless to say, with… Read more
Decorated stone covered today’s animal bone deposit
As mentioned in today’s dig diary, Bruce lifted a flagstone beside one of the standing stones flanking the entrance to Structure Twelve to reveal a large spread of animal bone.… Read more
