Dig Diary – clay artefact’s decoration reignites our sense of awe and wonder

Day Thirty
Thursday, August 1, 2024

You would think that after years of truly spectacular finds at the Ness we’d become slightly desensitised to wondrous things. And to a certain extent you do.

Where once the cries of “decorated stone” would grab the attention of everyone on site as they rushed to see the latest discovery, now, unless it’s something very special, few bat an eyelid.

But even the most jaded digger was left slack-jawed this morning when a tiny clay object reignited that sense of awe and wonder.

You’ll recall Travis’ fired-clay tubular object – the “shotgun cartridge” from the Structure Twenty sondage. We were intrigued by it on the day because it stood out as being something we’d never really seen before. But even the most optimistic viewer will concede that it didn’t look particularly outstanding.

But today, it stole the show. So much so we’re pondering whether it will earn the coveted title of “Star Find of the Season”!

What happened?

Well, we were paid a visit by one of our ceramics specialists this morning. Roy has made a welcome return to site this season to help Sigurd with the daily tours and, today, had some time to spare before the 11am outing.

So he took Travis’ artefact and, with the eye of a pottery guru, carefully cleaned it. And the result is absolutely incredible.

The sheer beauty of the object’s decoration is undeniable. With precise decoration – chevrons with, and without, “needled” decoration around its sides.

But it was on the top (if it is indeed the top) of the tiny artefact that proved to be the most impressive – decorated with four chevrons pointing inwards from the outer edge.

On first glance it seemed they were a bit off centre, but looking closer we seem to be looking at deliberate choice. The pairs of opposing but similar decorated subtly shifted for artistic effect. It truly is a marvellous thing to behold.

There’s always a danger when dealing with archaeological artefacts that you focus on the object and forget about the people responsible for its creation, curation and use.

This tiny object really drives that message home. Step back from the context numbers, matrices and registers for just a few moments and immerse yourself in the fact that someone, about 5,000 years ago, sat down to carefully inscribe these delicate markings into clay.

Why? What was the object’s role? Did it even have a role? Or are we just looking at the results of an individual whiling away the time with a little lump of clay? Their only goal to create something beautiful.

Equally impressive is the decoration on a tiny pottery sherd recovered from the midden around Structure Forty – Structure One’s predecessor – today.

The beautiful little fragment is embossed with two little crosses – designs that have clearly been stamped into the clay after construction. The first time we’ve come across anything like that on site.

Yes. We know they look like the head of a phillips screw but take it from us they were definitely not around 5,000 years ago. Again, we’re looking the result of a deliberate choice and a fine example of crafting a tool to fulfil that vision.

Equally impressive, although not made of clay, was Ray’s bone pin from Structure Thirty-Four.

Regular readers will know that worked bone is something of a rarity at the Ness.

Not because people were not making things from bone but because the acidic soil means these objects rarely survive. At the Ness of Brodgar bone preservation can range from not-very-good condition to mush with the consistency of cottage cheese.

Fortunately, there are pockets of soil and midden that are clearly not so acidic and it is from these that we have recovered our few examples of worked bone.

Ray’s pin – his third so far – is in remarkable condition – its point still as sharp as the day it was lost/deposited.

He found the little artefact while removing the ashy material from the vicinity of Structure Thirty-Four’s hearth and the adjacent opening into the so-called “mega-drain”.

We’re no longer as certain that what we have is a trench-spanning mega-drain as we once were. Now that supervisor Jim has showed that one of the areas of suspected drain collapse, south-west of Structure Twelve, was unrelated the original theory has unravelled.

However, if may still relate to the extensive area of disturbance at the north end of Structure Twelve and its predecessor, Structure Twenty-Eight. As more of the feature is exposed we might get a better glimpse into what’s going on.

By close of business today the mega-drain’s stone-capped “entrance” was looking ominous – gaping like the gates of Hades. Sigurd, who is working in the north end of Twelve – with all its pits and voids, is looking forward to meeting the Structure Thirty-Four team in the middle soon!

Just in case you’ve not had enough about drains, supervisor Paul and Michael finished cleaning the original, south-eastern entrance of Structure Five this afternoon.

They have revealed three more! One running parallel to the building. One (the channel running beneath the hearth) exiting the interior via the entrance. And a third which seems to run along the outside wall before turning at right-angles and heading inside!

Over in Structure One, Andy and Jenna have almost finished the sondage to the east of the southern hearth. Although this has revealed areas of yellow clay floor it seems to be concentrated solely on the area around the fireplace.

Visitors to the site today can’t have failed to notice the concentration of diggers at work in Structure Twenty-Seven. There were more in Trench T than all other trenches combined.

We’re up against the clock now, with just over two weeks of digging left, and we’ve got many questions we want answered.

At the north-western corner, the meticulous excavation of an extensive animal bone deposit continued today, with Tom joined by three new diggers, Sophie, Aden and McKenna from Willamette University.

By the end of the day, they had tagged 100 individual bones in their current context, adding to those recovered from the layer above. And, you’ve guessed it there’s more underneath – it appears to be going quite deep!

Inside the building, the huge stone slab that was found lying on its side, many years ago, removed today after careful examination.

We think the stone once formed one of the side of the building’s entrance but was toppled in the Neolithic and subsequently abandoned because its size made it difficult to move.

The slab had been obscuring the last remaining floor deposits in the building so its removal from the trench not only gave us a clear view of the interior for the first time, but allowed work on the final unexcavated section to begin.

Within the fireplace, the last of the shallow ash deposit has been excavated, fully revealing a well-fitted stone base. This will be recorded and photographed before being removed to see whether we have an earlier hearth underneath.

Concluding this evening’s offering, we’d like to thank all the visitors who have approached various members of staff to thank us all for our efforts – both on site and online.

To hear words of appreciation from diary readers is really quite touching and does wonders when mustering the energy, on arriving home, to ascend to the attic and start writing.

Thank you all. It really is appreciated.