Dig diary – A narrower doorway, a deeper hearth and a mystery wall to end the day

Tuesday, July 28, 2026 (7:22 PM)

Ben and the curving wall section exposed just before close of play today. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Day 17
Tuesday, July 28, 2026

“Typical. Just when it was beginning to make sense…”

Director Nick’s comment came in the final hour of excavation, prompted by the sudden appearance of an unexpected curving wall section to the south‑east of Structure Forty‑Four. The feature emerged just as the day’s work was drawing to a close – and immediately complicated what had seemed a steadily clarifying picture.

But more on that shortly.

The fully exposed entrance to Structure Forty-Four. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

First we return to Structure Forty‑Four’s entrance, which, based on geophysics, looked like it could be as much as 1.5 metres wide. Excavation of the southern section today settled the matter: the doorway measures 86cm across. Still wider than a typical Skara Brae entrance though. From the entrance, the presence of the flanking internal buttresses created a 2.4-metre-long “passage” into the building’s interior.

Fully exposing the entrance also clarified its relationship to the central hearth. The doorway is offset slightly to the north, an arrangement presumably to stop drafts – or outright gusts – from cutting across the fire.

The central hearth after the removal of the basal slab. The half-section orangey ash layer is towards the bottom of the picture. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Jim planning the primary hearth deposits section. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Turning to the hearth, its flagstone base was lifted this morning, revealing a deeper layer of ashy deposits beneath. The increased depth points to a longer period of use during the building’s primary occupation phase. This evidence aligns neatly with the two flooring phases now identified within Structure Forty‑Four.

Paul working to reach Structure Forty-Four’s primary floor. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

At some point in the building’s life, the interior was refloored. This saw the hearthstones raised and a new basal slab laid directly over the earlier deposits. Although the primary ash layer has produced no dateable material, it has been fully sampled for further analysis.

Ray and Ben set to removing the material overlying the buildings south-eastern section. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

And now back to that curving wall…

Ben and Ray were tasked to remove the last of the overburden from the south‑eastern arc of Structure Forty‑Four, partly in the hope of locating the buttress suspected beneath.

Minutes before we downed tools for the day, Ben exposed a substantial stretch of curving wall that appears (at present) unrelated to Forty‑Four. Its arc differs from the building’s circular walling and it does not continue into the structure.

A flurry of activity. And Jan. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

The exposed wall section south-east of Structure Forty-Four. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

What do we have? The remains of an earlier structure demolished to make room for Forty-Four? An annexe or extension added later in the building’s life?

Just as the Structure Forty-Four jigsaw pieces were falling into place, along comes the proverbial fly in the archaeological ointment. But we’ll be back tomorrow, the penultimate day of excavation, to try and make sense of the latest discovery.

A reminder that if you want to visit the dig or our fundraising shop, we are open to the public until 4.30pm on Thursday, July 30. So don’t delay.