Structure Forty-Four lay to the north-west of Trenches J and P, beyond the northern boundary wall. It was excavated in July 2026 after 2025’s ground-penetrating radar survey revealed a circular anomaly that was markedly different from the previously excavated Ness structures.
Although we don’t have dates yet, based on the architecture, Structure Forty-Four appears to be a Late Neolithic structure (c.3000-2900BC).
With a diameter of 8.4 metres, the building had been heavily truncated. All that survived were contiguous sections of flat foundation slabs, a handful of basal wall stones, and traces of internal features. Despite this, enough remained to show that Structure Forty-Four followed the architectural template seen in later Neolithic buildings, such as those at Skara Brae and the nearby Barnhouse settlement.
The surviving evidence also suggests that Structure Forty-Four was constructed to a particularly high standard, with finely executed stonework.
The building’s single south-east-facing doorway was notably more elaborate than those recorded at other settlement sites. Whereas Neolithic houses and monuments in Orkney typically featured low, narrow entrances measuring around 50 centimetres across, the doorway of Structure Forty-Four was slightly wider at 80 centimetres.
This unusual width may indicate that Structure Forty-Four served a purpose beyond that of a typical Neolithic house. A broader entrance would have eased access for greater numbers of people, a suggestion reinforced by a worn depression in the threshold area that points to considerable footfall over the building’s lifetime.
Outside the entrance lay a paved area of large flagstones, along with two rows of embedded orthostats extending south-eastwards from either side of the doorway. These rows were not parallel but angled slightly inwards, converging at their outer ends. While they may have formed part of a porch-like structure acting as a wind baffle, they would also have created a funnel-shaped approach to the entrance, potentially guiding and regulating movement into the building.
The notion of a funnel-shaped approach may have an alternative, or additional, explanation. Structure Forty-Four’s entrance faces the point on the horizon where the midwinter sun rises above the Orphir and Stenness hills. This is noteworthy given the importance of the winter solstice in Neolithic Orkney, most famously the sunset expressed in the architecture of Maeshowe. It is therefore tempting to consider whether Structure Forty-Four’s entrance incorporated a similar, though less dramatic, reference to the solar cycle.
Of course, the connection to the sun need not have been purely symbolic. The unusually wide, south-east-facing entrance would have allowed significantly more morning light into the building, particularly during the darker winter months. Practical considerations may therefore have worked hand in hand with any desire to align the structure with the rising midwinter sun.
Construction
Structure Forty-Four’s story begins on a deliberately prepared site – the Neolithic builders had stripped away the natural vegetation and soils to expose the glacial clay beneath. Thin layers of midden material, from the rest of the complex, then accumulated across the cleared surface.
A shallow scoop was cut into this midden deposit to allow the construction of Forty-Four and a shallow, circular trench dug to house the building’s foundations.
Using stone from earlier buildings across the Ness, Structure Forty-Four had two main phases of use before being dismantled and its remains covered over. The first phase saw Forty-Four with a sub-square interior (5.5m by 5.7m), a central hearth and a suspected dresser-like feature directly opposite the entrance. There were also traces of a feature against the southern wall but the nature of this is unclear.
Where Structure Forty-Four’s first phase stands out is that, for the first time, we appear to have evidence of timber posts used in an Orcadian Late Neolithic building. During excavation, a single post-hole was found in the building’s south-western quadrant. With a diameter of approximately 30 centimetres, this would once have held a sturdy, tree-trunk sized post.
The question is how this post relates to Structure Forty-Four. Timber posts are generally not a feature found in later Neolithic stone structures. At the Ness, where evidence of posts was found it was for hasty structural repairs, such as that encountered in Structures Eight and Twelve, or representing an Early Neolithic structure.
Based on the excavated evidence, it seems likely that Structure Forty-Four had an internal timber frame, made of up four posts set out in a square, that may have helped support the roof. That said, we don’t find posts within House One at Skara Brae, which is roughly the same size, so why were they in Forty-Four?
Were they simply decorative? Or like Structure Five, which dated to c.3300BC, are we looking at traces of an earlier timber building. We will look at this again in a future article.
Whatever the role, the wooden post was removed during the second phase of Structure Forty-Four, and four stone buttresses inserted into the building’s corners. These not only gave the interior its final cruciform appearance but may have created the impression of a passage-like approach from the entrance.
Hearth
3d model of the hearth, showing its second-phase stone base.
Excavation of Structure Forty‑Four’s central hearth again revealed a clear two‑phase sequence of use. In its later incarnation, the hearth sat on a carefully laid basal slab, with a thin spread of ash above it. The shallowness of these upper deposits suggests this second phase of activity was relatively short‑lived – a final chapter in the building’s life rather than its main period of occupation.
Removing the stone base exposed a very different story beneath. Here, the primary hearth deposits were markedly deeper, pointing to a longer period of use. The depth of the primary layer hints at sustained occupation during the building’s initial phase, when its interior layout and fittings were first established.
Evidence from the surrounding floor surfaces reinforces this picture. At least one major reflooring episode took place inside Structure Forty‑Four, during which the hearth was physically raised to match the new interior level. Rather than abandoning the original structure, the builders chose to preserve and remodel it – a decision that suggests it remained important enough to be maintained and remodelled rather than simply abandoned.
Taken together, the stratigraphy shows a building that was not only maintained but actively reconfigured, with its hearth remaining a central, meaningful element throughout its life.
Drains
Surrounding the building was a shallow, uncovered drain. While not on a par with patch on some of the more-elaborate, stone-lined examples from Trenches P and T, it showed that Forty-Four was built before its neighbour Structure Forty-Five.
The drain segment outside Forty-Four’s entrance was the only covered section and was joined by another from the building’s interior.
Left: The fully excavated drain section outside the entrance. Right: 2026: Excavated segments of the encircling gully to the north and west of the building. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)
Decommissioning
As the four-week dig progressed, it became clear that Structure Forty-Four was deliberately decommissioned at the end of its life before all traces of its walls were removed and covered over.
Blocking material found outside the entrance also suggested that Forty-Four was intentionally, and probably formally, sealed before being abandoned. What survived of Structure Forty-Four was heavily affected by centuries of farming, reflecting the continued use of the Ness landscape long after the Neolithic complex was abandoned.
2026: Ard marks in the north-eastern trench quadrant. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)
Particularly significant was the discovery of prehistoric ardmarks, narrow grooves left by an ard or scratch plough, representing the first evidence of this type identified at the Ness. These show that parts of the site were being cultivated by the Early Bronze Age, only a few centuries after the complex fell out of use.
Evidence of later medieval and post-medieval rig-and-furrow cultivation was also recorded crossing the area. The cumulative effect of this sustained agricultural activity was the gradual and near-complete truncation of Structure Forty-Four’s remains.
Structure Forty-Four’s place in the Ness story
At the time of writing, we don’t have dates for Structure Forty-Four but we’re reasonably happy to place its construction/use around 3000-2900BC.
It was raised on virgin ground to the north-west of the complex, beyond the former northern boundary wall, and was one of several structures in the area hinted at by geophysics. We have physical evidence of two of these.
Structure Forty-Five was identified during the 2026 excavation season, following hints of its presence in earlier geophysical survey data. Located approximately one metre south of Forty-Four, it appears to have been a substantial elongated building extending beyond the limits of the excavation trench to the south-west. Excavation revealed part of its northern end wall and confirmed it was contemporary with its neighbour.
A second building, Structure Thirty-Eight was exposed during 2013 roadworks outside the current site gate.
Structure Forty-Four’s role remains unclear, largely due to the absence of artefacts from secure archaeological contexts. Finds from Trench W were extremely sparse and most cannot be regarded as diagnostic, having clearly derived from the material deposited over the remains of the Forty-Four, such as the Early Neolithic leaf-shaped arrowhead.
As noted above, however, the architectural evidence leaves little doubt that this was a Late Neolithic structure, albeit one markedly different from the long, rectangular, piered buildings identified in Trench P.
Its position beyond the northern boundary wall suggests that it was constructed after the demolition of the “Great Wall”, pre 3000 BC, placing it within the final stages of activity at the complex. In this regard, Forty-Four shares notable similarities with the more monumental Structure Ten to the east.
Both structures exhibit a comparable developmental sequence, with corner buttresses added during a secondary construction phase, and both share the same underlying plan. Nevertheless, Forty-Four was clearly a less ambitious building, its scale and construction reflecting a significantly more modest interpretation of the architectural form.
Post-excavation work is ongoing and will continue to shed light on this intriguing building.
