Dig Diary – a day of remarkable finds

Thursday, August 8, 2024

Team shot at the end of play today. (📷 Scott Pike)

Day Thirty-Six
Thursday, August 8, 2024

What a day! The finds were coming thick and fast from all corners of the site today as we rapidly approach the end of week seven!

The finds hut was positively jumping this afternoon as the artefacts streamed in, with Sarah, Megan, Rosalind and Anne having the best time looking after them all!

On top of that, it’s been an incredible busy day overall, so you’ll have to forgive me if tonight’s diary is more of a photoblog highlighting some of the latest Ness finds.

Ceiridwen's decorated stone from Structure Seventeen. (📷 Jo Bourne) — Ceiridwen’s decorated stone from Structure Seventeen. (📷 Jo Bourne)

It’s hard to select a star find of the day, there were so many, but for me it has to be the spectacular decorated stone found by Ceiridwen in the northern recess of Structure Seventeen.

She has already found a few nice artefacts in that area this week, but her latest is really the icing on the cake!

Ceiridwen and her decorated stone. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Closer view of one of the decorated faces. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Closer view of one of the decorated faces. (📷 Ceiridwen Blakely)

Geometric design on the one of the ends. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Today’s second decorated stone was found by supervisor Jim on a stone face in Structure Twenty-Four – a feature running across the centre of Structure Twelve and pre-dating it and Structure Twenty-Eight.

The faintly incised incised decorated bands on Structure Twenty-Four. (📷 Jim Rylatt)

Staying in Structure Twelve, over three years since he first spotted it, Sigurd was finally able to lift a lovely quartzite tool from the north end. Unperturbed by the comments that it looked like a potato, and him, he’s delighted that it’s seen the light of day at last.

Quartzite tool from Structure Twelve. (📷 Jo Bourne)

There are impact marks on its surface but whether it was used as an anvil or a hammerstone is not clear. Whatever its role, it was deposited alongside a large rectangular orthostat that had been sunk into the building’s floor.

Hammerstones were the order of the day in Structure Twenty – Ten’s predecessor- as well, with both Travis and Jo finding one each!

Travis and his hammerstone from Structure Twenty. (📷 Sinead Marshall)

Travis and his hammerstone from Structure Twenty. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Jo excavating in Structure Twenty. (📷 Sinead Marshall)

Jo excavating in Structure Twenty. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Sarah's axehead from Structure Five. (📷 Jo Bourne) — Sarah’s axehead from Structure Five. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Trench J is renowned for producing polished stone axes. And today it did it again when Sarah found yet another fine example in Structure Five.

Like some of the others from Five, Sarah’s camptonite axe is beautifully formed but not very big.

Some of the decorated pottery sherds from Structure Thirty-Four. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Ray and Ben continued excavating the area around the mega-drain today. Along with more probable cattle bone, they recovered the fragments of a nicely decorated Grooved Ware pot.

There will be no dig diary tomorrow as we’ve all got the dig party kicking off straight after work. In the past we’ve always strived to get the party-day diary out the following day, but given this will be our last ever Ness of Brodgar shindig, I think you’ll appreciate that there might be some tender heads on Saturday.

But rest assured, we’ll be back on Monday and will fully update you then.