2022’s top ten: second set of ‘Great Wall’ steps
The second step feature emerges from the inner wall face of the ‘Great Wall of Brodgar’. (Jo Bourne)
The 2018 excavation in Trench J revealed what look curiously like a set of steps tied into the inner face of the northern boundary wall – the “Great Wall of Brodgar”.
This year the trench was extended to expose more of the wall’s south-western section. On August 1, a team of UHI Archaeology Institute students uncovered another substantial step-like feature jutting out from the wall.
Both sets of steps were well made, using large stones, and keyed into the fabric of the wall.
If they are indeed steps, their presence suggests that assistance was needed to reach – or at least look over – the top of the four-metre-wide wall.
The steps emerge from the midden and rubble against the inner face of the wall. (Jo Bourne)
Closer view of the steps, tied into the structure of the northern boundary wall. (Sigurd Towrie)
The 2022 steps. (Sigurd Towrie)
The first of the step-like features, revealed in 2018. (Sigurd Towrie)
Low-altitude drone shot of Structure Five and the ‘Great Wall’ with the 2018 steps visible. (Scott Pike)
The two sets of possible steps in the northern boundary wall. (Scott Pike)
