Ness of Brodgar

The Ring of Brodgar, with Loch of Harray beyond

Ness of Brodgar is the thin neck of land in the west of Mainland, Orkney between two lochs, the Loch of Stenness along its southwest and the Loch of Harray to its northwest. The Ness carries a road, but its fame is from the wealth of archaeological sites here, from the Neolithic Age and later, which form part of the 'Heart of Neolithic Orkney' World Heritage Site.

Archaeological site

• Location map: 58°59’49"N, 3°12’58"W

Excavations at Ness of Brodgar

The archaeological site on the Ness of Brodgar covers 6 acres between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness near Loch of Harray. Excavations at the site began in 2003. The site has provided evidence of housing, decorated stone slabs, a massive stone wall with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic "cathedral" or "palace". The site may have been occupied from as early as 3500 BC to the close of the Neolithic period more than a millennium and a half later.

According to project manager Nick Card, the discoveries are unparalleled in British prehistory, the complexity of finds is changing the "whole vision of what the landscape was 5,000 years ago" and that "it’s of a scale that almost relates to the classical period in the Mediterranean with walled enclosure and walled precincts". Additionally, according to archaeologists in general, the site could be more important than Stonehenge.

Finds

Excavations have revealed several buildings, both ritual and domestic and the works suggest there are likely to be more in the vicinity. Pottery, cremated animal bones, stone tools, and polished stone mace heads have also been discovered. Some of the stone slabs are decorated with geometrical lozenges typical of other Neolithic sites.

There are the remains of a large stone wall (the "Great Wall of Brodgar") that may have been 350 feet long and 15 feet or more wide. It appears to traverse the entire peninsula the site is on and may have been a symbolic barrier between the ritual landscape of the Ring and the mundane world around it.

The temple-like structure, which was discovered in 2008, has walls 13 feet thick and the shape and size of the building are visible, with the walls still standing to a height of more three feet. The structure is 82 feet long and 66 feet wide and a standing stone with a hole shaped like an hourglass was incorporated into the walls. There is a cross-shaped inner sanctum and the building was surrounded by a paved outer passage. The archaeological team believe it is the largest structure of its kind anywhere in the north of Britain and that it would have dominated the ritual landscape of the peninsula. Recent finds include Skaill knives (a type of flaked stone cutter) and hammer stones and another, perhaps even bigger wall. The dig involves archaeologists from Orkney College and from the universities of Aberdeen, Cardiff and Glasgow.

In July 2010, a remarkable rock coloured red, orange, and yellow was unearthed: the first proof found in Britain that Neolithic people used paint to decorate their buildings and is similarly coloured to the natural shades of sandstone used in the construction of the inner room. It is thought that the primitive paint could have been made from iron ore, mixed with animal fat, milk or eggs. Only a week later a stone with a zigzag chevron pattern painted with a red pigment was discovered nearby.

A baked clay artefact known as the "Brodgar Boy", and thought to be a figurine with a head, body, and two eyes, was also unearthed in the rubble of one structure in 2011. It was found in two sections, the smallest of which measures 12 inches, but is thought to be part of a still larger object.

In 2013, an intricately inscribed stone was found, described as "potentially the finest example of Neolithic art found in the UK for several decades". The stone is inscribed on both sides. A few days later archaeologists discovered a carved stone ball, a very rare find of such an object in situ in "a modern archaeological context".

Prehistoric roof tiles were used in Ness of Brodgar. The archaeologists at the ongoing Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA) excavations have found Orkney’s first real evidence of a Neolithic roof. In most reconstructions of prehistoric buildings, one will often see the roof made of turf, animal skins or thatch. But on the Ness, the builders used stone slates for at least one of their buildings the remains of which have been uncovered within the side recesses along the interior walls of Structure Eight.

World Heritage status

The Heart of Neolithic Orkney was inscribed as a World Heritage site in December 1999. In addition to the Ring of Brodgar, the site includes Maeshowe, Skara Brae, the Stones of Stenness and other nearby sites. It is managed by Historic Scotland.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ness of Brodgar)

• Location map: 58°59’49"N, 3°12’58"W
• Streetmap: HY30251285

• Ness of Brodgar - excavation
• "Scottish Island Discovery Digs Up New Information About Neolithic Religion", PBS NEWSHOUR Report, 20 February 2013, includes video of site