2024’s top finds – the decorated clay cylinder from Structure Twenty

After 20 years of digging, it was lovely to see the Ness could still surprise and delight. Just when we thought we’d seen everything, along came an object that left us amazed and perplexed in equal measure.

Travis was working in a sondage investigating Structure Twenty, one of Ten’s predecessors. He emerged with a strange, circular, clay object that was followed by a tubular, apparently solid, clay object with beautiful, delicate decoration.

The two parts fitted beautifully together.

Although we were intrigued by it fresh from the trench, after careful cleaning it looked spectacular! It was truly beautiful, with precise decoration – chevrons with, and without, “needled” decoration around its sides.

But it was on 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 it was clear we were looking at a deliberate choice. The pairs of opposing chevrons, which were similarly decorated, appear to have been subtly shifted for artistic effect.

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 drove that message home. 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.