Dig Diary – visitors flock to the site on our first open day of the 2024 season

Sunday, July 14, 2024 (9:23 PM)

Time-lapse video around Trench P, from Lucy Carr-McClave, on our first open day of the 2024 season.

Site director Nick welcomes the 1,000th visitor to site today, Craig Taylor, and presents him with a copy of Ness of Brodgar: Past, Present & Future. Long-time followers of the diary will know that our earliest aerial images of the site were taken by Craig, back in the days of kite-photography. — Site director Nick welcomes today’s 1,000th visitor, Craig Taylor, with a copy of *Ness of Brodgar: Past, Present & Future*. Long-time diary followers will know that our earliest aerial images of the site were taken by Craig, back in thepre-drone days of kite-photography.

We held our first open day of the season today and are delighted by the result. Over 1,200 people made their way to site and there must have been similar numbers over at the Stenness school.

All in all, a busy day with continuous tours together with activities and information at both locations.

Our thanks to everyone who took the time to visit and to all those who helped us in what was an extremely successful day.

In time-honoured fashion, today’s diary will focus on photographs from both the Ness and the Stenness hall.

Although excavation continued across the site (and I hear there were some interesting finds) your diary writer was tied up for most of the day over at Trench T, and the divine Structure Twenty-Seven.

Rest assured we’ll bring you full details tomorrow.

Thank you all again. We spoke to many folk, from all over the world, who had congregated in Orkney to see the Ness dig site.

Particular thanks go to José, an archaeologist from Córdoba, Spain, for his extremely kind words about the Ness and our ongoing efforts to disseminate information about the project.

It really makes it all worthwhile.

On to the photos, these on site, from Jo Bourne: