Rewriting Neolithic Orkney: The Ness of Brodgar
For centuries the Ness of Brodgar lay silent and undisturbed, jutting out from Orkney between the Loch of Harry and the Loch of Stenness: right at the center of Orkney’s Neolithic landscape. The large whale back mound upon it was thought to be a natural feature, simply part of this wild and untamed landscape. Two standing stones could be seen on the Ness, called in antiquity “the stone of Saturn and Jupiter” and legend claimed that they were part of a druidic “temple or house of the sun.” These were thought to be related to the mighty Ring of Brodgar forming part of an avenue between them and the Stones of Stenness (The Orcadian July 20th of 1901) This meant that archaeologists had largely ignored the Ness, choosing instead to focus either side of it, that is until 2002 when a project began to geophysically survey the whole of Orkney. The survey quickly revealed what the report termed a “dense cluster of sub soil anomalies…indicative of settlement” beneath the soil on the Ness. The results astonished the archaeologists and while they were considering their next move an additional and compelling piece of evidence came to light. During the spring ploughing of 2003, a large flat notched stone came to the surface that was believed to be a burial cist dating to the Bronze Age, which in northern Scotland ran from approximately 2500-800 BC. Fearing that human skeletal remains might have been disturbed, and in accordance with UK law, archaeologists from the Glasgow University Research Division were sent to examine the site and excavate a ‘rescue’ trench to establish whether human remains were in fact present. As they scraped away at the soil, and as more and more stones emerged, it became clear that this was no burial but instead part of the corner of a large building that was dated early into the Neolithic period. As more and more of the building came into view it was clear that this was something extraordinary and further noninvasive surveys were now undertaken which confirmed that if the anomalies were all buildings or evidence of habitation, then the site was huge and uniquely complex. This survey was followed up by a series of 8 test pits dug in 2004 which proved, in the words of the excavation report, that “much of the mounded ridge was artificial and that beneath it a huge complex of structures and middens [existed] all dating to the Neolithic.”
The following year, excavation on the site began in earnest, the site had by now attracted a good deal of press attention. In June, the first trenches went in, and they aimed to uncover the nature of a linear double feature, which archaeologists hypothesized might be a boundary wall, and to uncover further dating evidence. To this end, two trenches were put in. The first trench J targeted the corner of the linear feature, which had previously been discovered in one of the test pits, and it revealed a 10-13 foot (3-4 meter) thick faced wall of cairn material. Today, this is known as the “Great Wall of Brodgar.” Inside the stones of the wall archaeologists found a stone polished axe. Such axes were typical of Neolithic Orkney where they played a vital role in people’s day-to-day lives, for hunting, butchery, chopping, and defence. However, their role also transcended the merely practical. Throughout Neolithic sites in Europe, there is evidence that axe heads were being discovered inside 10-13 foot (3-4-meter) thick walls or under floors perhaps as claiming deposits to mark the end of the life of a person or a building, to make a connection with the earth, or with the gods communicating a change or order or purpose. Neolithic axes are well attested to all over Orkney, and Scotland, so this confirmed once again that it was a Neolithic settlement that was being dealt with on the Ness of Brodgar. This mighty wall, that would have been thicker than that of Hadrian’s, enclosed an oval-shaped area 50 feet (15 meters) wide. The structures inside seemed to center around hearths, indicating that this was a habitation site.
Excavation at the Neolithic Ness of Brodgar site. (S Marshall / CC BY-SA 4.0)
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