Ness Of Brodgar

HY 30243 12941 A watching brief and evaluation trenching were carried out, 1 July – 23 October 2013, during works to improve access at the entrance of the Ness of Brodgar site and the construction of a passing place on the NE side of the Brodgar to Stenness road.

The entrance works consisted of the machine excavation of an access ramp, which measured a maximum of 9.6m NW–SE by 6.5m NE–SW, and the area was excavated to a depth of 0.6m below the present ground level. This work revealed a series of ash-rich clayey silt midden deposits which sloped downwards to the NE. The upper surface of the underlying glacial till was undulating and appeared to be truncated, possibly by a wide, shallow cut feature. This feature measured 3m NE–SW, was >0.2m deep, and contained two fills derived from dumps of ash-rich midden comparable to the overlying deposits. The full extent and depth of the cut was not revealed, as this feature was below the formation depth of the access ramp.

The passing place was 12m long by 3.6m wide, with 12m tapers at either end. Prior to the construction of the passing place, four test pits were excavated within the development footprint. The test pits were hand excavated down to the formation depth (0.6m) of the passing place, or to the first significant archaeological horizon. The exception to this was TP2 to the NW, which was machine excavated to a depth of 1.1m to allow a new water main to be augured under the existing road. In Test Pits 2, 3 and 4 significant archaeological deposits were revealed between 0.55m and 0.7m below the present ground level. These consisted of deposits of ash-rich midden, and possible cut features, which were further revealed during the watching brief phase (see below).

A large wall was revealed in TP5 to the SE. A 12m NW–SE by 2.7m (maximum) wide area was subsequently hand excavated to reveal the extent of this structure, within the boundaries of the development. The wall was aligned WNW–ESE, measured >6.4m long by 3.2m wide, and survived to a maximum depth of 0.42m. The external wall face was remarkably well constructed, using neatly faced, quarried flagstone in regular 0.06m thick courses. This wall face survived to a maximum of five courses, and was constructed on a stepped foundation which was built with large tabular flagstone. The wall face had been truncated in the vicinity of the existing road. Two parallel walls were present 1.6m and 2.8m respectively to the SSW of the outer wall face, which both had rough faces to the SSW. These two walls appeared to be integral to the construction of the structure, and were probably retaining walls, given the relatively poor quality of the masonry. Two small investigative slots were excavated through wall core deposits to characterise these layers. The wall core deposits appeared to be derived from a mixture of horizontally orientated large flagstone rubble, redeposited midden, and debris from dressing stone (small angular flagstone chips, some with pronounced bulbs of percussion).

A further deposit of horizontally orientated flagstone rubble was revealed to the SW of the wall. It was unclear if this was a further deposit of wall core for a structure outside of the development area. The wall sealed the fill of an irregular cut feature to the NW, this cut a layer of mid–reddish brown clayey silt midden, which was evident beneath the wall in all exposed areas.

The construction method for the SW 12m of the development area was altered to allow the in situ preservation of these significant structural remains. The remainder of the passing place was reduced down to 0.6m below present ground level. Deep topsoil deposits sealed a layer of redeposited glacial clay, which became thicker downslope to the NE. This context sealed the fills of two large cut features. The fills of these two features were very similar. One measured 6.2m NW–SE by >3.5m and was >0.3m deep; the other was 7.5m NW–SE by >3.5m and >0.65m deep. The full extent of these features was not revealed and they were were preserved in situ. They have tentatively been interpreted as quarry pits.

Very few finds were recovered, with only small fragments of burnt bone, burnt stone and a single sherd of prehistoric pottery from the archaeological deposits, and a struck flint from the topsoil overlying the main wall.

The quality of the masonry and the stepped foundation bears similarities to some of the structures at the Ness of Brodgar, and given the close proximity of this site, a Neolithic date for the structural remains seems highly probable.

Archive: RCAHMS (intended)

Funder: Orkney Islands Council

Dave Reay, ORCA, 2013

(Source: DES)

HY 303 129 The 2021 excavation – the first since 2019, due to the pandemic – was on a much-reduced scale to previous seasons, with only Structure 10 and 12 in Trench P being uncovered, along with Trench J, which contains the remains of Structures 5 and 32, and the northern boundary wall.

Work on Structure 5 revealed that its history is much more complex than originally thought. It had always been assumed that the building’s N end was primary and that the S end was perhaps a later addition. A small trench extension revealed more wall lines, which indicate that the S end was primary.

It also seems that the building’s primary entrance was on the NW side but was sealed off and replaced by a series of doorways in the SE wall. An earlier phase of Structure 5 may also have had an outer revetment.

Another set of wall lines running off from Structure 5 could relate to another, earlier, structure. These features need further excavation before any firm conclusions can be drawn.

The partial exposure of primary floor levels within Structure 5 revealed that the building’s interior was below the external ground level. This probably accounts for the clay sealing found on the lower courses of the walls to prevent water ingress into the building. A few fine, hard-fired sherds of a round-based bowl were also recovered from the primary floor confirming Structure 5’s initial early Neolithic pedigree.

Further excavation confirmed that the later Structure 32, built on top of the rubble of Structure 5, incorporated elements of its predecessor into its construction. The building, which was found to contain several ashy layers, also produced an incised decorated stone from its floor level.

In Structure 12 excavation concentrated on the internal multi- phase floor deposits. Of note was the survival of wood within two small rectangular tapering postholes (50mm and 100mm wide) possibly forming part of a central internal division to the E of Structure 12’s southern hearth. This replaced an earlier orthostatic partition leading into the building from its ornate eastern entrance.

Further postholes were found to run along the northern section of the interior perhaps, to hold a screen or partition.

Two larger postholes were excavated in the SE and NW recesses. These were inserted into the structure prior to its initial collapse in an effort to shore up the roof.

Outside Structure 12’s blocked NW entrance very large sherds of a vessel, with applied decoration, that stood approximately 0.5m high with a similar diameter, were recovered. This reflects other similar pot deposits outside blocked entrances of several Ness buildings.

Work in Structure 10 continued to concentrate on unpicking the complex floor deposits based on a 0.5m grid for sampling. Further features were revealed relating to the primary phase of its use, including small postholes, robbed out orthostatic divisions, and pits.

Another example of a “painted” stone, a vivid red pigment, survived on an orthostat in the building’s northern interior. Beside the orthostat was a chunk of red sandstone that may have been the source of the pigment.

In the forecourt area outside of Structure 10’s entrance, a small sondage was opened into an exposed section of Structure 20 that is one of the buildings underlying Structure 10. Samples were obtained that should provide a date.

For more information see www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk and the major interim volume Card, N., Edmonds, M., and Mitchell, A (Eds) 2020 Ness of Brodgar, as it stands. Kirkwall.

Archive: Orkney SMR and NRHE (intended)

Funder: Orkney Islands Council; Ness of Brodgar Trust; American Friends of the Ness of Brodgar; UHI Archaeology Institute; Orkney Archaeology Society

Nick Card – Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA), UHI Archaeology Institute

(Source: DES Vol 22)