Dig Diary Extra – A passage between buildings?
Work this week suggested there might be a passageway aligned with the original eastern entrance to Structure Twelve (an entrance that stayed in use throughout the life of the building… Read more
The Ness of Brodgar complex
Discovered in 2003, the Ness of Brodgar site has been under excavation since 2004, revealing a massive complex of monumental Neolithic buildings dating from the centuries around 3000BC.
Without parallel in Atlantic Europe, the Ness of Brodgar’s three hectares are filled with huge stone structures containing spectacular finds.
These have made the Ness one of the most important archaeological excavations in the world today, changing our understanding of the culture and beliefs of Neolithic Orkney and shining a new light on the prehistory of northern Europe.
The project is mainly funded through the generosity of the public through our two supporting charities, the Ness of Brodgar Trust and the American Friends.
Day Ten from above (part two)…
More aerial shots from this evening, courtesy of site director Nick Card.
Click on the images for larger versions.… Read more
Dig Diary – Friday, July 12, 2019
Day Ten
Back in the trenches
Yesterday, in a nutshell, was a day of hard labour, brought about by the foul weather conditions.
Today, on the other hand, it was… Read more
Day Ten from above…
In a rare occurence the weather cleared this evening. Here are three drone photographs from above, courtesy of dig director Nick.
Click on the images for larger versions.… Read more
Prehistoric pottery firing at Kirbuster Farm Museum
If you have visited the Ness, the chances are you will have seen one of the 90,000 pot fragments recovered from the site to date.
But if you have ever… Read more
(A wet) Day Nine in pictures…
Click on a thumbnail for a larger version of the picture.
Photographs by Jo Bourne and Sigurd Towrie.… Read more
Dig Diary – Thursday, July 11, 2019
Day Nine
Extensions, extensions…
Today started wet and miserable and there were serious doubts as to whether any excavation would be possible at all.
Thankfully the threatened thunderstorms etc. held… Read more
Dig Diary – Wednesday, July 10, 2019
Day Eight
Entrances and passageways
Archaeology is in full flow today, only slightly hindered by the hot and sticky weather which seems to have dumped copious amounts of rain on… Read more
Day Eight in pictures…part two
Click on a thumbnail for the full-sized picture. All photographs by Emily O’Farrell.… Read more
Day Eight in pictures…part one
Click on a thumbnail for full-sized picture. All photographs by Jo Bourne.… Read more
Dig Diary – Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Day Seven
A damp, but exciting, day…
We ended yesterday’s diary with a defiant challenge to the weather gods.
Now that we’re all home, clean, warm and in dry clothes… Read more
Day six in pictures…
Click any of the thumbnails for a larger version. Pictures by Jo and Sigurd.
[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”6″]… Read more
Video – Sunshine over Trench J
After a week of wet and windy weather, great progress was made in Trench J, and across the entire site, under bright sunshine today.… Read more
Dig Diary – Monday, July 8, 2019
Day Six
Back to its happy self
What a difference a weekend makes. On Friday of last week we were soaked, chilled to the bone and generally emitting extreme misery.… Read more
Dig Diary Extra – A timber structure at the Ness site?
Before another day of incessant rain forced us to call a halt to proceedings, work had started on extending Trench T to expose more of the enigmatic Structure Twenty-Seven.
The… Read more
Dig Diary – Friday, July 5, 2019
Day Five
Rain rain go away…
Modern archaeology interacts with many other disciplines and our colleagues at the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute are developing an international… Read more
Dig Diary – Thursday, July 4, 2019
Day Four
Beaten by the weather
Orkney’s weather is unpredictable to say the least but even hardened Orcadians were dismayed at the summer-time (allegedly!) conditions unleashed upon us today.
It… Read more
Video – Digging cancelled due to weather
Day Four of the 2019 season. The weather hasn’t been kind to us at all so far this year, but was so bad today that all digging operations had to… Read more
Dig Diary – Wednesday, July 3, 2019
Day Three
Plagued by wind and rain…
In most of Britain the sun is shining. In the United States some folk are suffering a heatwave and in Europe the frazzled survivors… Read more
Day Two in pictures…
Click any of the thumbnails for a larger version.
[gdgallery_gallery id_gallery=”5″]… Read more
Dig Diary – Tuesday, July 2, 2019
Day Two
Water, water everywhere…
After the excitement and manual labour of day one, day two was just manual labour. There were tyres and sandbags to move and the swathes… Read more
