Dig diary – ard marks and emerging buildings

Day Four
Thursday, July 9, 2026

In August 2024, during filming for the Time Team special, Dr John Gater was down by the Stenness loch where he found a splendid example of a prehistoric ard – a precursor to the plough, used to scratch furrows into soil.

So it felt apt that, this afternoon, ard marks appeared in the north‑eastern trench quadrant as the overlying layers were removed. Fleeting, subtle, but unmistakable – another thread of prehistoric activity woven into the Ness of Brodgar’s landscape.

Ard marks in the north-eastern quadrant this afternoon. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Excavation continued apace today, with the circular anomaly’s path now confirmed in the south‑western quadrant. Nearby, the upper traces of one – perhaps two – probable Neolithic buildings are beginning to show themselves. It’s still early days, and much more digging will be needed before their form and scale can be pinned down.

Suspected wall lines in the south-western quadrant. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Meanwhile, in Kirkwall, the three-day Big Ness Lego Build got under way in the Orkney Library. The free workshops, organised by the Ness of Brodgar Trust in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland (HES), will see Lego fans, young and old, help create models of the Neolithic structures uncovered during the Ness of Brodgar excavation project. 

Young Lego enthusiasts at the Orkney Library today. (📷 Mark Edmonds)