The Ness of Brodgar Excavation


The Ness of Brodgar Excavation 


Trench P, which includes Structure 10


While, in recent times, the stone circles of Stenness and Brodgar were a present reminder of times past for Orkney folk, Barnhouse was unknown, and completely hidden from view. So also was the Ness of Brodgar, which is now one of the most exciting archaeology projects to explore Neolithic Britain, in recent years.

It is directed by Nick Card, and is best described by him, as follows.

“The Ness of Brodgar (Fig. 49) sits on the south eastern tip of the Brodgar isthmus separating the Loch of Harray to the east, and the Loch of Stenness to the west, at the centre of the large natural bowl of hills of the West Mainland of Orkney. From it the Ring of Brodgar (0.75 km to the NW), the Stones of Stenness (0.5 km to the SE) and Maeshowe (1.5 km to the E) are clearly visible. On the south side of the Bridge of Brodgar, barely 300 m distant, is the Neolithic settlement of Barnhouse (Richards, 2005).

Ness of Brodgar, aerial view


Between 2004 and 2008 trial trenching to investigate the nature of the mound and the threat from agricultural practices gave indications that this massive mound (c. 250 m by 100 m, lying NW–SE, and over 4 M high), previously considered a natural feature of the landscape, was mainly artificial and consisted of a sequence of Neolithic buildings, middens and midden-enhanced soils. Since 2008, area excavation (though still less than 10% of site) has been carried out (Fig. 50). This has revealed a complex sequence of monumental buildings contained within a massive walled enclosure. In it’s latter phases the site is dominated by several large buildings which, judging by their scale and architectural finesse, would appear to be outside the norm for the domestic sphere. This is also reflected in the artefactual assemblage and over 700 examples of decorated stone (Card & Thomas, 2012).

Due to the depth and complexity of the stratigraphy, and the exceptional preservation of the architecture, only the later phases of the site have so far been investigated in detail.

Other activity pre-dating the construction of the large piered buildings is represented by several lengths of walling revealed between, under, and in some cases incorporated into, the buildings presently under investigation. Other earlier buildings are also implied by the subsidence, collapse and the undulating nature of wall lines of later buildings. These earlier buildings where revealed utilise orthostats partially built into wall lines to define internal space similar to stalled tombs and early Neolithic houses. It is presumed that the surrounding walled enclosure is first constructed during these earlier phases.

In the later phases, orthostats are replaced by the use of opposed stone-built piers to create recesses along internal wall faces as in Structures 1, 8, 12, 14 and 21, each of which saw several phases of reuse and remodelling. These buildings (which are the present focus of excavation) can be seen as exaggerated or elongated versions of Neolithic houses of the kind seen, for instance, in the early phase of Skara Brae (Clarke, 1976). A paved area with a standing stone is central to the whole of the walled enclosure at this stage.

The last major construction so far identified, Structure 10 (Fig. 4), is a departure in style and scale from earlier building styles. It partially overlies the collapsed remains of the piered Structure 8. Its internal square chamber with rounded corners bears close comparison with Structure 8 at Barnhouse (Richards, 2005), as does its scale (some 20 by 19 m externally), which mirrors a general trend to monumentality in the Late Neolithic of Orkney. As with the piered structures at the Ness which mirror other house plans but on an exaggerated scale, so too does Structure 10 reflect later house styles, such as House 1 at Skara Brae (Clarke, 1976). Although the foundations of Structure 10 show the overall monumentality of its build, as with the majority of other late structures at the Ness it suffered from subsidence. That may have been the cause of the collapse of its SW corner. It was rebuilt with extensive remodelling of the interior into a cruciform plan with the addition of new wall faces and corner buttressing.

At the end of these monumental phases, the buildings at the Ness were partly demolished and suffocated with layers of midden and rubble. The placing of a structured deposit of mainly cattle bone around Structure 10 has been seen as part of this decommissioning process (Mainland et Al., 2014). This has been suggested as ‘a single depositional event’ or ‘at the least a series of events occurring over a fairly short period of time’ (Mainland et al., 2014: 875). Later, some of the walls of the structures were systematically robbed of stone. Ephemeral activity continued, but on a much reduced scale.

The exceptional architecture, the diversity of structures, and the evident size and spatial complexity of the Ness of Brodgar all emphasise its special character. “(Card)

For the dating of the site, see Dating the Ness of Brodgar 

*

This is one of a loosely attached group of blogs called the "Orkney Riddle".

The key blog to the group is called the "Neolithic Immigrants to Britain" 

Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk 




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