Ness dig helps earn Orkney a place on Best UK Places to visit list
Next year’s excavation at the Ness of Brodgar is among the attractions that have earned Orkney a place on the “15 best places to visit in the UK in 2023”.… Read more
The Stonehall settlement – part one
Lying in the shadow of the Cuween chambered cairn, the Stonehall settlement lies a few miles to the west of Crossiecrown, Wideford Hill and Smerquoy. Read more
Structure Twenty-Seven – updated and expanded
This summer we returned to Trench T for the first time since 2019.
There, the focus was on Structure Twenty-Seven, a large building that had been badly robbed of stone… Read more
New paper: Life and death of sheep and deer at the Ness of Brodgar
A new paper on the faunal remains from the Ness of Brodgar is available now. Read more
The Smerquoy Neolithic settlement
Five years after the Wideford Hill settlement excavations, fieldwalking along the hill’s south-western base recovered tantalising evidence a second Neolithic settlement on low ground beneath the nearby chambered cairn. Read more
Wednesday wildlife – early morning expedition
This week’s pictures from around the lochs by site director Nick Card.… Read more
Howe, Stromness – a hub of Neolithic and Iron Age activity
Ahead of planned agricultural improvements, the prehistoric site at Howe was excavated from 1978 until 1982 – an operation that revealed a complex series of occupation episodes spanning the Neolithic to Iron Age. Read more
Wednesday widlife – running, bathing, sitting and surfing
This week’s selection of wildlife photographs from around the Ness of Brodgar by site director Nick Card.
… Read more
Wideford Hill settlement – the first evidence of Neolithic timber structures
The Wideford Hill settlement, in use from c3600-2900BC, lies at the north-western foot of the hill, south-west of Crossiecrown and east of the Stonehall settlement. Its discovery and excavation in 2002-2003 revealed a missing chapter from the biography of Neolithic Orkney – timber houses. Read more
Wednesday wildlife – lochside activity
A new selection of photographs from site director Nick Card.… Read more
Crossiecrown settlement – part two
Parallels with Barnhouse and the Ness of Brodgar hint that the Crossiecrown “double-house” was more than a dwelling. The quality of the internal stonework, the deposited artefacts and the fact the Red House had been “decorated” suggests we have another example of a “big house” – a structure with “enhanced ancestral significance and status”. Read more
Wednesday wildlife – around the water
This week’s selection of photographs from Ness of Brodgar excavation director Nick Card.… Read more
Funded MRes available looking at Ness of Brodgar burnt animal bone
The burnt animal bone assemblage from the Ness of Brodgar is the subject of a new funded Masters by Research (MRes) studentship available from the UHI Archaeology Institute. Read more
Crossiecrown settlement – part one
The Crossiecrown settlement lay in the northern shadow of Wideford Hill, on low ground to the north-east of the Quanterness cairn. Occupied from around 3300BC to 1800BC, the site spanned the Orcadian Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Read more
Wednesday wildlife – otter and eel
Otter encounters around the Ness mean we’ve got a bumper selection of photographs from site director Nick this week.
As you’ll see from the pics, the otter was wrestling with… Read more
The rise and fall of the Ness complex
An update looking at the biography of the Ness of Brodgar complex – from its earliest days to eventual abandonment.
Click here to read.… Read more
