Category: Around the Ness

Around the Ness / Ring of Brodgar / Stones of Stenness

Friday, December 16, 2022

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

Around the Ness / Chambered Cairns / Standing Stones

Monday, November 14, 2022

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

Around the Ness

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

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

Binscarth Woods, Firth, Orkney. (Sigurd Towrie)

Around the Ness

Friday, November 5, 2021

But where’s the trees? Gathering and using timber in Neolithic Orkney

The Orkney encountered by the first farmers, around 3700BC, was very different. Not only did lower sea levels mean more lowland areas, but Orkney was also home to wooded areas containing birch, hazel, rowan, willow, oak and pine. Read more

Around the Ness

Friday, October 1, 2021

The Norse on the Ness

A few weeks ago conversation at excavation HQ drifted from matters Ness and the Neolithic to apparent Viking Age runes found in the 1920s at the nearby Brodgar farm. Read more

Around the Ness

Friday, September 24, 2021

Geophysics suggests the Ness may not be as unique as once thought

When the Ness of Brodgar was discovered in 2003, it was without parallel. But we now suspect it might not be. Read more

The lower revetment wall of the Iron Age ditch in Trench T at the Ness of Brodgar. (Sigurd Towrie)

Around the Ness

Friday, September 10, 2021

Enclosing the midden mound – Iron Age activity at the Ness excavation site

The Ness complex was abandoned at the end of the Neolithic, around 2500BC, but at least one section was brought back into use, some 1,800 years later, in the Iron Age. Read more

Around the Ness / Featured

Friday, June 4, 2021

Big Howe – an Iron Age broch beside the Stones of Stenness?

Stand in the centre of the Stones of Stenness today and a short distance to the south-east, in the adjacent field, you will see a low mound. This is Big Howe, all that remains of a large Iron Age feature that once dominated an area 150 metres away from the stone circle. Read more

Around the Ness

Friday, May 28, 2021

The Bay of Skaill trail

We bring this week to a close they way we started it – with another trail! This time we head to the west coast of the Orkney Mainland and take… Read more

Around the Ness

Friday, April 30, 2021

Around the Ness in the 19th century with George Washington Wilson

We were delighted to learn this week that the University of Aberdeen’s George Washington Wilson photographic archive is free to access online.Operating from Aberdeen, on the Scottish mainland, in the… Read more

The Standing Stones of Stenness, looking north-west towards the Ness of Brodgar. (Sigurd Towrie)

Around the Ness / Ring of Brodgar / Standing Stones / Stones of Stenness

Monday, April 19, 2021

Time for the old house to die? – henges and houses in the Neolithic

Over the past few weeks, we have looked at expedient architecture - the idea that some Neolithic buildings were hastily built, perhaps dismantled or simply left to become ruinous. This is not restricted to structures. Read more

Around the Ness / Standing Stones

Monday, March 22, 2021

The ‘Lochview’ Standing Stones

Thousands cross the Ness of Brodgar annually. But, if noticed at all, a pair of standing stones between the two stone circles probably don’t get a second glance. Read more

Around the Ness / Settlements

Monday, March 15, 2021

Wasbister settlement and disc barrow

During the Bronze Age, people gravitated towards the sites of already ancient monuments to bury their dead. As a result, clusters of barrow mounds can often be found around chambered cairns and other Neolithic monuments. Read more

Around the Ness

Monday, March 8, 2021

Skaefrue

Lying around 110 metres downslope and south-west of the Ring of Bookan is the large Bronze Age barrow known as Skaefrue. Read more

The Odin Stone. Marchioness of Stafford. 1805.

Around the Ness / Standing Stones

Monday, March 1, 2021

The Stone of Odin

Until the winter of 1814, the holed monolith stood to the north-west of the Stones of Stenness. But although its special place in the customs, traditions and folklore of the people of Orkney is well documented, we know remarkably little about the stone itself. Read more

Around the Ness

Saturday, February 13, 2021

Walk the Ness Neolithic Trail

Although visitors can’t come to Orkney at present due to the Covid pandemic travel restrictions, we’re all looking forward to a time when things get back to some semblance of… Read more

Category: Around the Ness

Chasing the ‘Brodgar road’ – the claimed route of the stone circle megaliths

Howe, Stromness – a hub of Neolithic and Iron Age activity

The Ring of Bookan

But where’s the trees? Gathering and using timber in Neolithic Orkney

The Norse on the Ness

Geophysics suggests the Ness may not be as unique as once thought

Enclosing the midden mound – Iron Age activity at the Ness excavation site

Big Howe – an Iron Age broch beside the Stones of Stenness?

The Bay of Skaill trail

Around the Ness in the 19th century with George Washington Wilson

Time for the old house to die? – henges and houses in the Neolithic

The ‘Lochview’ Standing Stones

Wasbister settlement and disc barrow

Skaefrue

The Stone of Odin

Walk the Ness Neolithic Trail

Around the Ness

Orkney’s Prehistory

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