A few photographs of sections of the incised stone recovered from Structure Seventeen on July 25. The slab features four bands of decoration, but areas appear to have been worn away while the stone was in situ during its lifetime. As such, much of the incised lines are very difficult to see. …
Day Twenty-Six Meanwhile, over in Cupmark Corner… We woke up this morning to the sound of torrential rain lashing the rooftops of Orkney. Which means, of course, that it was also lashing the trenches, walls, structures and precious floors of the Ness of Brodgar excavation site. Inevitably this meant no …
Not all finds from the Ness are in immaculate condition, as these newly received pictures of a macehead fragment, post-conservation, show. Compare this badly damaged artefact with the condition of the splendid example picture at the bottom of the page.
We mentioned yesterday that in the closing minutes of the day, an axehead/macehead blank was found in the same area as the spectacular macehead earlier in the day. Here is the object in all its glory. Work to create an axe or macehead had started but seems to have been abandoned …
Day Twenty-Five Hearths, heating and Neolithic cuisine… Hearths, heating and Neolithic cuisine were the focus of much of the work on site today. Dr Cathy Batt, and her son and assistant Jonathan, arrived this morning to sample the hearths for archaeomagnetic dating (explained in yesterday’s diary). Before she can do …
A selection of pictures from today from Jo Bourne and Sigurd Towrie. As usual, click on any image for a larger version.
Day Twenty-Four STOP PRESS – As seems to be typical this week, in the final minutes of work today, an axehead/macehead blank came up in the same area as this morning’s macehead. More details tomorrow. A truly spectacular macehead from Trench X Just when we thought things couldn’t get more exciting …
It’s been a frantically busy day on site today – but also an incredibly exciting one. We’re busily putting together today’s dig diary and gathering hundreds of photographs from all across the site. We’ll have something online very soon. In the meantime, above is a little taster of what is …
A few more photographs from today from Jo and Sigurd. Click on any image for a larger version.
A few shots from this afternoon, courtesy of Professor Scott Pike. Click on any of the images for a larger version.
Some more images of Ceridwen painstaking excavation of a massive spread of broken pottery at the top of Trench X today.
Day Twenty-Three ‘Grandaddy of all drains’ reaches 30-metre mark Tell someone that one of the greatest highlights of this excavation season is a drain and you will get some strange looks. But this is no ordinary drain. As we explained in the diary yesterday, this is a superdrain, the granddaddy …
A random selection of shots from today’s activities on site. As usual, click on any image for a larger version. Photographs by Jo Bourne, Paul Durdin and Sigurd Towrie.
