After two decades of digging, fieldwork at the Ness of Brodgar ended in August 2024. The focus now is the intensive post-excavation analysis of all the recovered material and data.
Although digging could have continued for years, our work on the major Neolithic structures was complete and the project had reached a logical place to stop.
Post-excavation often leads to new and exciting revelations when science and expert know-how adds flesh to the bones of the story we already have. So the next few years will see us analysing our data in detail, tackling the questions identified and no doubt finding more to answer as we go.
The results will help unpick the story of the people who built, used and ultimately abandoned the complex in the centuries around 2500BC. It will properly determine the history of the site, the character of activities over time and the relation of the Ness complex to the rest of Neolithic Orkney and beyond.
This will lead to full publication – probably necessitating several volumes – with much more available online.
In addition, we will continue working with local communities and with schools to develop educational and other resources for use in the coming years.
As Professor Mark Edmonds puts it in The Ness of Brodgar: Past, Present and Future: “The Ness is far from done.”
But although digging has ended, the Ness of Brodgar Trust will still rely on public donation.
Post-excavation, like digging, needs funding and a team to carry out the work. Donations will continue to help ensure that we can learn all we can from the excavated material and get that knowledge published and shared.
Donations so far, for example, have funded the course fees for four Masters by Research (MRes) students and a PhD student, all of whom are looking at different aspects of the Ness of Brodgar complex.
Public donation has largely brought us this far and while we are always looking to secure other funding, we hope the help of individuals across the world will continue make Ness archaeology happen.
