Was there more to Neolithic ‘dressers’ than just a set of shelves?
In the years since Skara Brae’s excavation, there has been much debate over the role, and significance, of the so-called “dressers” that have become icons for the site. Read more
Category: Around the Ness
A henge at Staneyhill in Harray?
Another large ditch-and-bank enclosure in Orkney's West Mainland. But is it actually a Neolithic 'henge'? Read more
The Overbigging enclosure – an ‘elaborate and rather enigmatic monument’
Neolithic or later? A look at the large ditch-and-bank enclosure, near Overbigging, about 480 metres north-west of Maeshowe. Read more
Maeshowe – the mummies, the giant and the mound-dweller…
A look at what may have lain behind the 1861 newspaper claim of two mummies and a giant in Maeshowe. Read more
Fruitless and forgotten – the 1861 excavation inside the Ring of Brodgar
For many, many years, the uncertainty surrounding what, if anything, lay inside the Ring of Brodgar has been put down to the fact the interior is unexcavated. But now, it seems, that is not the case. Read more
100 years on: the discovery of the ‘Brodgar Stone’ at Ness complex site
100 years ago this week the 'Brodgar Stone' was found - a taste of things to come. Read more
Video: The dead of winter – Maeshowe and the solstice
Today, Saturday, December 21, is the winter solstice - a day inextricably linked to Maeshowe in Stenness. Read more
The centre of their world – a place where heaven, earth and people met
By natural coincidence the Ness of Brodgar peninsula roughly lines up with a solstice axis. Is this one of the reason's the area became a magnet to people for millennia? Read more
Digging into henges and henging…
The Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness have been classed as "henges" since the term was coined in the 1930s. But are they really? And what exactly is a henge? Read more
Traditional names or just another ‘Loda’ old nonsense?
Is there any truth to the antiquarian claims that the two Stenness circles were traditionally known as the 'Temples of the Sun and Moon'? Read more
Spirits of the Standing Stones
The early antiquarians who documented Orkney's ancient monuments paid little attention to the local beliefs surrounding the sites. Read more
The Ness of Brodgar from above
Structure Twelve supervisor Jim Rylatt is in Orkney at present, juggling hundreds of contexts to piece together a phased timeline for the building.
On one of the few reasonably pleasant… Read more
The Bookan Chambered Cairn
At some point in the Neolithic a small, multi-chambered structure was built on high ground at the north-western end of the Ness of Brodgar. Read more
The Ness of Onston enclosure
North of the Unstan stalled cairn is an enigmatic earthwork that separates the landward side of the Ness of Onston from the headland.
This arc of two banks and ditches runs across the width of the headland, demarcating an area to the north that is now devoid of features or visible archaeological remains. Read more
The Staneyhill stone (and round about)
A solitary megalith towers over a Neolithic quarry about 350 metres to the south-east of the Staneyhill horned cairn. Read more
Link: ‘Orkney – Centre of the Stone Age’ podcast
A new podcast from History Hit, looking at Orkney's Neolithic remains, including Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, Skara Brae and a section on the Ness of Brodgar, featuring Nick Card and Roy Towers. Read more
Staneyhill long horned cairn
Across the waters of the Harray loch, just over two miles north-east of the Ness of Brodgar complex, is one of the few known Orcadian examples of a Neolithic long horned cairn. Read more
Chasing the ‘Brodgar road’ – the claimed route of the stone circle megaliths
For many years I have been fascinated by an “old tradition” of a prehistoric, eight-mile-long track known as the “Brodgar Road”. This, it was said, marked the route of the megaliths bound for the Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stenness from the quarry site at Vestrafiold. Read more
Howe, Stromness – a hub of Neolithic and Iron Age activity
Ahead of planned agricultural improvements, the prehistoric site at Howe was excavated from 1978 until 1982 – an operation that revealed a complex series of occupation episodes spanning the Neolithic to Iron Age. Read more
The Ring of Bookan
A mile or so north west of the Ring of Brodger, the ditched enclosure known as the Ring of Bookan comprises a flat-bottomed ditch surrounding an oval, raised platform. Read more
