The ‘Lesser Wall’ in 3d – a new model compiled from our photo archive

We’re taking a leap back in time today – over a decade and the excavation of Trench R.

This exploratory trench was inserted over a large, linear geophysical anomaly to the south-east of Trench P in 2009. It confirmed the presence of a second Ness-spanning edifice – the southern boundary wall.

Back then the idea of creating a 3d model of a trench was (almost) in the realm of science fiction. But using photographs of Trench R taken in 2010, our photogrammetry guru Paul Durdin has created this model of excavation under way on the outer face of the “Lesser Wall of Brodgar”.

The southern wall was found to be different to its counterpart 125 metres to the north-west. With a width of two metres it was much narrower but survived to a height of c1.8 metres.

It exhibited finer masonry and was built using flagstone slabs, rather than large stone blocks, and had been raised on top of the remains of earlier buildings. Its outer face – the side facing the Stones of Stenness – was also paved along its base.