We’re back on site tomorrow. . . and here’s why

Sunday, July 5, 2026 (11:54 AM)

The circular feature identified during the 2025 ground-penetrating radar surveys. (📷 *Time Team*)

We’re back on site tomorrow to investigate an intriguing circular feature revealed by the Time Team ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey in July 2025.

With a diameter of about nine metres, the circular anomaly lies to the north-west of former Trenches J and T, beneath the area used for vehicle access and parking in previous years. The four-week exploratory dig will see a 14 x 12 metre trench opened over the feature to clarify what it represents and how it relates, if at all, to the previously excavated archaeology. Over 20 years of work at the Ness Neolithic complex, circular features were notable by their absence.

The location of the 2026 trench in relation to other elements of the site. (📷 Jim Richardson)

July 2025: Anne, Nick and Mark see the GPR results for the first time. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Time Team’s Dr John Gater, who led the GPR survey, said: “The survey revealed something none of us were expecting. At this stage we simply don’t know exactly what the feature represents. It could prove to be archaeology of a different period, perhaps even a Bronze Age burial cairn, or maybe even something more exciting. That’s exactly why we’re going back to investigate.”

Although we’re back on site tomorrow, the dig won’t be open to the public until Tuesday, July 7, with twice-daily weekday tours until Thursday, July 30.

A reminder, though, please don’t expect to see the monumental archaeology that was visible until the site was backfilled in 2024. This is a small, targeted excavation focusing on a single element of the geophysical survey results.