The Ring of Brodgar



 The Ring of Brodgar 





"The monument (Ring of Brodgar) comprises a massive ceremonial enclosure, or ‘henge’; its rock-cut ditch (c.123m diameter) encircling a platform with an impressive stone circle set around its circumference. It is thought to date to between 2600 and 2000 BC and is carefully and prominently sited on an isthmus between two lochs on Mainland Orkney.The stone circle has a diameter of c.103m with 21 stones currently standing erect, but it is thought to have originally incorporated 60 monoliths. The individual stones have a mixed history: some are lost, several are represented only by stumps or packing stones, while others still lie where they fell or were pushed; a number of stones were re-erected by the Ministry of Works at the start of the 20th century, while the remainder have stood through the test of time. One stone carries a Norse runic inscription, and at least one other has been struck by lightning. In the landscape around the Ring of Brodgar are at least 13 prehistoric burial mounds and a stone setting. The Property in Care (PIC) forms part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site (WHS)." (Ring of Brodgar,  Statement of Significance)

Further to the recognition that the Stones of Stenness may not have been completed, neither is it clear that the work of creating the Ring of Brodgar stone circle was actually finished.   

“The original number of stones is uncertain. At the present time the position of at least forty can be identified, and there are spaces for twenty more, if it is assumed that they were erected at approximately equal distances apart. This would bring the total in the original plan to sixty, the number suggested by Thomas many years ago (1946, 299).

Today, the stone circle comprises 21 erect monoliths. The position of a further ten is represented by either stumps or packing stones projecting through the turf. Two more stones lie prone just inside each causeway respectively. Of the standing monoliths, eight were re-erected in 1906-7, and we can have confidence in their accurate position as the H. M. Office of Works were scrupulous in locating the appropriate sockets at both the Stones of Stenness and Ring of Brodgar (J. N. G. Ritchie 1988). Nonetheless, it is clear that out of c. 60 stones only 13 remained standing." (Downes) 





Each stone in the circle has been worked to break along a fissure, creating a unique common profile. Having a more or less upright edge on one side,  the opposite side commonly slopes.



 



At Vestra Fiold on the west coast, a partially quarried stone that conforms to this design has been discovered and excavated. It is cut out and ready to move, but has not been taken, suggesting that work on the Ring of Brodgar, for which it was destined, was halted before it was completed. This is yet another fragment of evidence that suggests that a large group of people halted work operations on an Orkney monument, and removed themselves from the territory. 

The dating of Barnhouse, which I suggest was the campsite for the building of the henges, ended at 3000BC while the first stones for the setting of Stonehenge are dated to after 3000BC.. Stonehenge was rebuilt repeatedly, Orkney henges were not. 

*

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" 

All views and opinions expressed are my own, but it remains a work-in-progress for which positive criticism and comment is welcomed.


Jeffery Nicholls 

South Ronaldsay 

Orkney 

Jiffynorm@yahoo.co.uk 



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