Dig Diary – tracing Twenty-Eight and a record-breaking site tour

Tuesday, August 13, 2024 (9:24 PM)

In the south-east corner of Structure Twelve. Eponine and Carla at work in their sondage (left) with Jo and Jane pictured right. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Day Thirty-Nine
Tuesday, August 13, 2024

The final week of digging is upon us. Excavation in all buildings is coming to a close and the focus is firmly on tying up loose ends.

In Structure Twelve, all eyes are on Structure Twenty-Eight, the earlier building lying beneath. We’ve known it was there for many years but, like many things at the Ness, things can change.

So today digging in all four corners of Twelve sought to clarify Twenty-Eight’s overall plan. And we think we’ve done that.

Carla and Eponine with the huge slab revealed this afternoon. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

In one, Carla and Eponine revealed a huge stone that formed part of the building’s south-eastern corner buttress. Directly opposite, Michaela has confirmed that the south-western buttress was robbed out during the operation to construct Twelve.

Tom (left) and Structure Twelve supervisor Jim. (📷 Jo Bourne)

To the north-east, Tom has revealed what appears to be Twenty-Eight’s inner wall face – although it has been disturbed somewhat, presumably by the construction of Twelve.

And outside the north-western alcove, Sigurd’s “pit” has revealed substantial masonry that may represent the inner face of Twenty-Eight’s northern wall. Unfortunately in this case it’s not so clear cut and has led to some serious head-scratching.

Masonry appearing in the pit in Structure Twelve’s north-western corner. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

He’ll continue looking tomorrow, but it may be that the original wall was robbed to provide the building material for the secondary curving wall inserted across the building later in its life.

Structure Twenty-Eight’s secondary curved wall. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

What the results have shown so far is that Twenty-Eight, which was built around 3200BC, was very similar to its contemporaries, Structure Seventeen and Eighteen – all perhaps built using a standardised “template” for the earlier piered buildings.

The excavated ‘mega-drain’ opening. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Alice sampling the clay base of the opening. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Alice photographs the 'mega-drain' opening. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Excavation in the “mega-drain” opening in Structure Thirty-Four raised some eyebrows today when the diggers reached a yellow-clay surface doesn’t seem to be redeposited material. Instead, it seems to be the natural Neolithic ground surface lying between two walls.

It is also now looking more likely that these represent two earlier structures – standing side by side – with a gap between.

Tomorrow’s plan is to extend the excavation area around the “entrance” to clarify.

Jane removing the capstons of the drain north of Five's hearth. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Tristan and Aaron sampling Structure Five's primary floor. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Rachel and Sarah removing the primary floor to investigate deposits beneath the building. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Paul levelling the sonday in Structure Five's northern extension. (📷 Jo Bourne)

In Structure Five, Aaron, Tristan, Rachel and Sarah sampled the floor and excavated deposits underneath the floor. In the northern extension, Paul and Claire focused on investigating the sequence of activity in this later addition.

Orthostatic boxes in Structure Twenty. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Pigmented stone from Structure Ten. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Structure Twenty is one of the earlier buildings underneath Structure Ten. At the start of the season a sondage was inserted to expose more of Twenty and this has revealed orthostatic boxes similar to those noted in Structure Fourteen.

Elswhere in Ten, what appears to be a “painted” stone emerged in the north-western corner.

The large block of grey stone seems to have been coloured using yellow and red pigments.

Structure Twenty-Seven this morning. . (📷 Scott Pike)

Over in Structure Twenty-Seven, Ben opened a sondage against the north-western prone orthostat (one of the “skirting boards” lining the interior of the building).

This has revealed the scale of the stone slabs used within the building to support the internal wall cladding. Ben’s orthostat is 75cm wide! And 15cm thick. Huge!

The massive orthostat was was held in place by large packing stones.

The packing stone and cut of the north-western prone orthostat. (📷 Sigurd Towrie)

Meanwhile, the form of the entrance arrangement continues to confuse because the area has been so disturbed by the later episodes of stone robbing.

Some elements, however, are becoming clearer. It seems the surviving, decorated orthostat had been placed up against a second and that both formed the northern side of the entrance passage.

We mentioned yesterday that we may have two “standing stones” flanking the building’s entrance and today it seems we have a third low orthostat between the two. Whether this simply marked the building’s threshold and had to be stepped over or was part of a more elaborate entrance feature remains to be seen.

The decorated entrance orthostat and possible external 'standing stone'. (📷 Jo Bourne) — The decorated entrance orthostat and possible external ‘standing stone’. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Professor Colin Richards discusses Structure Twenty-Seven's entrance arrangement with Chris. (📷 Jo Bourne) — Professor Colin Richards discusses Structure Twenty-Seven’s entrance arrangement with Chris. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Outside the north-western corner of Twenty-Seven the recovery of the animal bone deposit is all but complete. Zooarchaeologist Professor Ingrid Mainland, of the UHI Archaeology Institute, visited today and from the trench edge recognised a very large bovine pelvis.

While on site she was also filmed for the forthcoming Time Team programme on the Ness.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson (left) on site today. Also pictured are Professor Mark Edmonds, Sarah, Paul Rainbird and Professor Jane Downes of the UHI Archaeology Institute. (📷 Jo Bourne)

Among the other visitors today was Professor Mike Parker Pearson, of University College London, and Professors Jane Downes and Colin Richards from the UHI Archaeology Institute.

Mike has visited the site before but was suitably impressed by what he saw today, particularly Structure Twenty-Seven, which was not as exposed on his last trip north.

The 11am tour gathers outside Structure One. (📷 Jane Downes)

The 11am tour outside Structure Twelve. (📷 Scott Pike) — And outside Structure Twelve. (📷 Scott Pike)

And talking of visitors, we’re fairly sure we broke a record today when around 200 people turned up for Sigurd’s 11am tour. Undoubtedly the largest we’ve ever had.

The group was so large that when the first were reaching Trench T at the south-eastern end of the site, the end of the line were still outside Structure Twelve!

If you’ve not paid us a visit yet, there’s three days left with tours running at 11am, 1pm and 3pm until Friday, August 16.