Festive flashback – winter at the Ring of Brodgar
As I write this, there’s a light dusting of snow covering Orkney’s West Mainland. It’s been quite a few years since we had a major covering of snow – December 2010, I think, when...
Category: Ring of Brodgar
Around the Ness: Howastedgarth
By Sigurd Towrie We finished last week with George Marwick’s claimed “old name” for the Ring of Brodgar – Howastedgarth. I first stumbled across it in 2012, in a transcription of a talk given...
Around the Ness: The Ring of Brodgar
“[In Stenness] beside the lake are stones high and broad, in height equal to a spear, and in an equal circle of half a mile.” Jo Ben. Descriptio Insularum Orchadiarum. c1529 By Sigurd Towrie...
Photographic mastery – Jim Richardson views from around the Ness
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 ...
A natural cursus? Water, walls and walking the Ness
“Seven thousand years ago, Mesolithic hunter gatherers walked the long ridge of land in the heart of Orkney, known today as the Ness of Brodgar. Later, Neolithic farmers chose that land to erect massive...
Diary extra – Around the Ring of Brodgar
It’s a beautiful day in the West Mainland of Orkney. One of those very rare summer days when there’s hardly a breath of wind. With some work to do at Ness dig HQ,...
The Dyke of Sean – a third monumental wall crossing the Ness
Visitors to the excavation are always fascinated by the two monumental walls flanking the Ness of Brodgar complex. The sight of the beautiful stonework of the four-metre (13ft) thick section of the “Great Wall...
Ring of Brodgar relegated to fifth place in stone circle size table
Archaeological work in south-west Wales has pushed the Ring of Brodgar back to fifth place in the list of largest stone circles in the British Isles. Four stones remain at the Waun Mawn ring,...