Dig Diary – Major rethink over Structure Eight’s entrance
Day Fifteen
Friday, July 22, 2022
We have reached the end of week three.
It seems that time appears to go faster at the Ness than any other place, but… Read more
Category: Excavation
Dig Diary Extra – 3d model of Structures Eight and Eighteen
A new model from Professor Scott Pike showing the northern end of Structure Eight, with Structure Eighteen, one of its predecessors, visible within and outside the building.… Read more
Dig Diary – What a day! Flint, incised art, dressers and a polissoir
Day Fourteen
Thursday, July 21, 2022
Conditions at the Ness were grey and damp as the diggers began arriving on site this morning.
But despite this gloomy start there was… Read more
Dig Diary – Trench J’s largest axe brings 2022 total to three
Day Thirteen
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Today at the Ness was cool, breezy and pleasant, making perfect conditions for digging with not even a single midgie to disrupt proceedings.
Trench… Read more
Dig Diary – Sunshine, hearths, haematite and post-holes
Day Twelve
Tuesday, July 19, 2022
What a glorious day. Both in terms of weather and archaeology.
Weary diggers climbed from the trenches at the end of a warm, sunny… Read more
Dig Diary – Probing the ‘mega-drain’ while more of Structure Eighteen is revealed
Day Eleven
Monday, July 18, 2022
Orkney’s wildlife gave a vanload of our diggers a wonderful start to the day. As they drove along the road just south of the… Read more
Dig Diary Extra – 3d model of Structure Thirty-Two
A 3d photogrammetry model of Structure Thirty-Two by Trench J supervisor, Paul Durdin.
Thirty-Two is a later construction, built on the rubble of Structure Five’s south-western end.… Read more
Dig Diary – Rubble area produces our first decorated stone of 2022
Day Ten
Friday, July 15, 2022
We have a new decorated stone!
It may be Friday and it may be (somewhat unbelievably) the end of the second week of excavation,… Read more
Dig Diary Extra – The Ness of Brodgar excavation from above
A selection of drone photographs taken yesterday by Professor Scott Pike, Willamette University, Oregon.
Click on the thumbnails for a larger version.
… Read more
Dig Diary – A day of drains on a site abuzz with activity
Day Nine
Thursday, July 14, 2022
There is no finer place to be on a pleasant day that an archaeological excavation that is positively buzzing with enthusiasm and activity.
And… Read more
Dig Diary – Another piered building east of Structure One?
Day Eight
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
When a big yellow bucket is rumbling towards you, propelled by a vicious horizontal wind, you know it is time to review options.
That’s… Read more
Dig Diary – This season’s second polished stone axe from Trench J
Day Seven
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Well that’s been another busy day.
With multiple tours – private and public – the site has been a veritable hive of activity, with… Read more
Dig Diary Extra – 3d model of worked whalebone artefact

Trench J supervisor Paul Durdin has worked his photogrammetry magic again, this time creating a 3d model of the whalebone artefact found in the floor of Structure Thirty-Two yesterday.… Read more
Dig Diary – it’s large and made from whalebone. But what is it?
Day Six
Tuesday, July 11, 2022
Trench J at the Ness is the trench which just keeps giving.
You will recall that on Friday, towards the very end of the… Read more
Dig Diary – Trench J produces 2022’s first polished stone axe
Day Five
Friday, July 8, 2022
Can this really be the end of the first week at the Ness?
Time has flown past, much of it propelled on horizontal wind… Read more
Dig Diary – Full steam ahead as we get back into the trenches
Day Four
Thursday, July 7, 2022
After yesterday’s weather delay, it was full steam ahead today as the last of the covers were removed, the trowels came out and we… Read more
