Dig Diary – Wednesday, August 15, 2018
Day Thirty-Three The luck of the Irish! Well, it had to happen. After the best summer excavation weather that any of us can remember (in this country at least) the rain came down, heavily. It began just after lunch-time and, with water quickly pooling in some parts of the site, …
The Ness in the news…
Some links to recent news stories and articles: Elisabeth Holder – Working Away British Archaeology Magazine – the printed magazine features a review of Woody Musgrove’s new book, Ness of Brodgar: Open to the Public The Herald: Archaeologists hail find of 5,000-year-old stone axes Press and Journal: Two ‘pristine’ stone axes …
Treasures on display at Open Day
This weekend will see our final Open Day of the 2018 season. Amongst other things, on display will be the axes, macehead, spatulas and incised stones found this year – a chance for everyone to get up close to some of the finest Neolithic Orcadian stone tools you’ll ever see, …
Day Thirty-Two in pictures…
A shorter than usual selection of activity around the site today – due to everyone being busy but also the fact that rain brought proceedings to an early close. As alway, click the thumbnails for a larger version.
Dig Diary – Tuesday, August 14, 2018
Day Thirty-Two High hopes realised Yesterday’s diary explained the normal phenomenon whereby the end of the excavation season leads to a feeling that nothing much is likely to happen. It also pointed out how wrong that was, with discoveries of artefacts such as the handsome cushion macehead, and structural delights …
‘Midden’ by Kate Greene
for weeks the Neolithic midden clung to my clothes, hair, and skin or lay embedded in fingerprints, under fingernails, in open cuts now it’s falling off slowly as dust on to twenty first century technology on the seats of taxis and airplanes and cotton hotel bedsheets and duvets it’s …
Dig Diary – Monday, August 13, 2018
Day Thirty-One Surprise start to penultimate week We are now in our penultimate week of excavation at the Ness and, as is usual so close to the end of the dig, there were few expectations of anything special happening. That feeling was heightened today by the necessity of transferring diggers …
‘Milk, Beef and Beer’
Feast Diane Eagles – Artist in residence Three ritual feasting vessels, entitled Milk, Beef and Beer, are endowed with symbolic references to Neolithic ceramics and the Ness of Brodgar. They are coloured white, red and black, referencing the importance of colour on the site, and the items they connect to. Milk …
