Dig diary – incised stone brings week three to a close in true Ness style

Friday, July 24, 2026 (6:38 PM)

Today's decorated stone from the interior of the building. (📷 Anne Mitchell) — Today’s decorated stone from the interior of the building. (📷 Anne Mitchell)

Day 15
Friday, July 24, 2026

Before excavation began on the Ness of Brodgar, Neolithic incised decoration was something of a rarity. By the time we finished fieldwork in 2024, we had well over 1,200 examples.

These varied from beautifully, deeply cut designs, to the more ephemeral etchings that were all but invisible if the light conditions were wrong. The majority featured a standard catalog of geometric designs – parallel bands, lozenges, chevrons and zigzags.

So it came as no surprise today, the final day of week three, when a decorated stone slab emerged from the floor of our building in Trench W. The 40cm by 30cm rectangular slab lay to the south-west of the central hearth, over the remains of what appears to be a furniture feature.

Some closer shots showing some of the many incised motif covering the stone. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

The designs are typical of those we’ve seen before – rectangular bands, triangles etc – but very lightly incised into one surface of the stone. Given its thickness and the fact edges had been worked, the stone itself may have been part of the nearby furniture feature.

Elsewhere, the story of the building is growing day by day.

The extended south-west section, showing the wall line, the remains of a furniture feature, the occupation layer and the excavated hearth. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

The fully excavated hearth, showing the stone base. The stones forming two sides of the hearth had been removed in prehistory. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

The shallow occupation layers on either side of the central hearth. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Overhead view of the central hearth, with its now cracked basal slab. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

The newly exposed southern wall section, running north-west to south-east. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

The south-western section was extended across the interior to the hearth, not only revealing the remains of a wall face but also the floor (or at least its final phase). The shallow occupation deposits encountered, however, reflect the contents of the hearth, suggesting the structure was not used for a prolonged period of time.

The furniture features mentioned above were in this section – right where you would expect them to be in a Neolithic house – but a second set are visible to the north-west of the hearth.

Situated at the (still-hypothetical) rear of the room, these could represent another Neolithic staple – the so-called “dresser” arrangement, examples of which survived within Skara Brae.

The base of a suspected furniture feature running parallel to the wall to the south-west of the hearth. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

All that remains of a possible 'dresser' at the building's north-western end. (📷 Sigurd Towrie) — All that remains of a possible ‘dresser’ at the building’s north-western end. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Dresser in House One from the entrance. (Sigurd Towrie) — Dresser in Skara Brae’s House One, viewed from the entrance. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

I say hypothetical rear because we don’t have evidence yet confirming that the entrance is in the building’s south-eastern end. But, based on the visible archaeology and what we know about Neolithic architecture – “dressers” face the door – it almost certain is.

Next week will see another section inserted to confirm this.

Some unseasonably unpleasant weather saw the site close to visitors early today. But it looks like the worst of it has passed now – the wind at least – so we’ll be back in business on Monday morning.