Gianluca’s MRes degree focusing on food preparation in Structure Twelve

Tuesday, July 8, 2025 (10:29 AM)

Gianluca in Structure Twelve's north-eastern corner. (📷 Jo Bourne) — 2023: Gianluca in Structure Twelve’s north-eastern corner. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Gianluca Marzagalli is undertaking a Masters by Research (MRes) at the UHI Archaeology Institute, looking at Structure Twelve’s animal remains in relation to the preparation of food. His degree is being funded by the Ness of Brodgar Trust, thanks to a generous donation from a supporter.

2019: Gianluca in Structure Twelve. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

In September 2024, I began my MRes looking at the bone assemblage from Structure Twelve. The research project is being supervised by the Ness of Brodgar director Nick Card, together with Professor Ingrid Mainland and Dr Julia Cussans from the UHI Archaeology Institute – all of whom are already familiar with the animal remains from the Ness of Brodgar.

My research aims to gather information from Structure Twelve’s faunal remains, looking mainly at any butchery marks to further our understanding of the cookery techniques going on inside the building.

This will be done mainly in three ways:

Firstly, I will look at the numbers and type of animals present in the assemblage, to understand which type of animals were preferred on site.

Secondly, I will analyse the type of bone recovered, considering both the presence and absence of certain bones to establish the preferred cuts of meat and whether the butchering of the animal was taking place near the structure or elsewhere.

Thirdly, by studying butchery marks I hope to understand how the meat was prepared to be cooked.

The ongoing research will carried out in conjunction with information gathered during the excavations.

The 'slow-cooker' area in Structure Twelve's north-western recess. (📷Gianluca Marzagalli) — The ‘slow-cooker’ area in Structure Twelve’s north-western recess. (📷Gianluca Marzagalli)

Stake holes around Twelve's northern hearth. (📷Gianluca Marzagalli) — Stake holes around Twelve’s northern hearth. (📷Gianluca Marzagalli)

It will be particularly interesting because of the clear archaeological evidence of different types of cooking activities carried out in separate areas of Structure Twelve – from the “slow-cooking” techniques in the side recesses, where hot ash was deposited, to areas where the meat was likely roasted, given the sheer number of small stake holes around the building’s two hearths.

And, of course, the area around the stone tank, which was probably where the boiling of food took place.

The excavation evidence from Structure Twelve makes the research into the animal bones found within unique in a Ness context – we have areas where cooking methods were clearly spatially separated.

At the moment, this research is still in its initial phase, but I’m confident it will provide interesting new information soon.