Dig into the Ness at the 2026 Orkney Science Festival

Thursday, August 27, 2026 (9:13 AM)

Some of the animal remains outside Structure Twenty-Seven this afternoon. (📷 Sigurd Towrie) — Some of the animal remains outside Structure Twenty-Seven in 2024. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Our ongoing work at the Ness of Brodgar features in this year’s Orkney International Science Festival, which begins next Thursday, September 3.

The festival’s “Ness Day” kicks off at 10am on Tuesday, September 8, with Professor Ingrid Mainland, of the UHI Archaeology Institute, talking The Bones from the Ness – the huge assemblage of animal remains found over 20 years of excavation.

Ingrid’s talk is followed, at 11am, by Associate Professor Scott Timpany looking at People and Plants at the Ness – what the charred plant remains can tell us about life in this part of Neolithic Orkney.

The above take place in the Baptist Church, Victoria Street, Kirkwall.

Structure Forty-Four – the building unearthed over four weeks in July 2026. (📷 Jim Rylatt)

At 2pm, in the King Street Halls, Kirkwall, Professor Mark Edmonds puts the focus on Studying Stone at the Ness, looking at the craft of building at the Ness, along with what is being learned from the detailed study of individual tools.

Then, at 7.30pm, in the Orkney Theatre, it’s the turn of Nick Card, who will outline the reasons behind this summer’s four-week excavation and outline the discovery of Structure Forty-Four and current thinking on how it fits into the story of the complex. What did they find at the Ness? runs for an hour.

Nick’s back the following day, Wednesday, September 9, leading a tour around the Ness site from 11am until noon. During the event, participants will learn about the complex’s position within a wider landscape and hear, first hand, the details of what was found in 2026 and the new questions raised by this summer’s work.

Entry to all the events is by ticket, which can be purchased at the Orkney International Science Festival website.