Category: Excavation
Drone photos from across the site
A superb selection of drone photos from Structure Eight team member Tom O’Brien.
Click on any image for an enlargement.… Read more
Diary Extra – The cover-up begins…
The work to start covering over the trenches for the winter got under way this morning and although we didn’t manage to complete all the structures, we made a great… Read more
Dig Diary – That’s it over for another year. See you in 2024!
That’s all folks – the 2022 excavation season at the Ness of Brodgar is now officially over. Read more
Dig Diary – Another deposit of wood, this time around Structure Twenty
Nick J. excavating around the timber deposit to the north of Structure Twenty’s exposed pier. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)
Day Thirty-TwoTuesday, August 15, 2023
Kristina excavating the pit inside Structure Eight’s… Read more
Diary Extra – 3d model of pillowstone fragment and a complete example
Paul Durdin’s latest 3d model – the rhodochrosite pillowstone fragment from Structure Thirty today.
Two other rhodochrosite pillowstones have been found on site – both in Structure Eight in 2011… Read more
Dig Diary – A flint knife, pillowstone fragment and successful operation to recover timber
Ceiridwen and the beautiful flint knife she found this afternoon. (📷 Ceiridwen Blakely)
Day Thirty-OneMonday, August 14, 2023
Where does the time go!
Here we are in the final week… Read more
Dig Diary – Thwarted by rain but a few nice pottery discoveries
Seeking shelter from the deluge in the supervisors’ hut. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)
Day ThirtyFriday, August 11, 2023
Louise with the sherd of what may be very early pottery she found… Read more
Dig Diary – Drones, bones and the latest on our Neolithic wooden plank
The Ness team gather for a group picture. (📷 Scott Pike)
Day Twenty-NineThursday, August 10, 2023
Today was photography day, so it began with yet more cleaning – sprucing up… Read more
Diary Extra – Cleaning continues…
A few images from the marathon cleaning session ahead of today’s photography session.
Click on any image for larger versions.… Read more
Diary Extra – 3d model of Trench T’s timber plank
Another new model from Trench J supervisor Paul Durdin.
Organic materials do not survive well in the acidic soil conditions at the Ness of Brodgar, so the regular appearance of… Read more
Dig Diary – Timber plank hailed our ‘most exciting find’ to date
Today, it was all hands on deck as the great, site-wide clean-up operation continued in earnest. Read more
Diary Extra – 3d model of Structure Twenty’s wall face and pier
A new photogrammetric model from Paul Durdin showing a section of the exposed walls and pier of Structure Twenty, the confirmed building lying beneath Structure Ten.
Structure Ten, with the… Read more
Dig Diary – Another ‘Brodgar Butterfly’ emerges from rubble pit
The incised ‘Brodgar Butterfly’ motif found by Ceiridwen today. (📷 Tom O’Brien)
Day Twenty-SevenTuesday, August 8, 2023
As we suspected it might, more incised, decorated stone has been popping up… Read more
Diary Extra – Structure Twenty-Seven flyover video
A short video from Professor Scott Pike, showing Trench T and Structure Twenty-Seven.… Read more
Dig Diary – Prehistoric timber fragments continue to appear in Structure Twenty-Seven.
Day Twenty-Six
Monday, August 7, 2023
Week six dawned bright and sunny.
What an absolutely gorgeous day to welcome a few new diggers on site!
And it… Read more
