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Brodgar Neolithic Village

Exploratory dig confirms existence of Brodgar Neolithic village

Centuries-old conceptions about the Ness of Brodgar - the thin strip of land between the Harray and Stenness lochs - look set to be turned on their heads following a series of exploratory excavations on the south-west of the ness.

Last year's discovery of a structure half-way between the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness gave the first hint that ideas were going to have to change.

A domestic settlement in an area thought to be solely the domain of ritualistic and funerary monuments was a clear sign that certain long-held notions about the Brodgar peninsula needed to be looked at again.

The structure's discovery, together with a series of extensive geophysics scans of the World Heritage Site area, was beginning to indicate the sheer extent of prehistoric human activity on the Ness of Brodgar - and perhaps, most intriguingly, that this activity wasn't entirely based around the ceremonial rings.

But even the geophysics results couldn't prepare the archaeologists for what they found after digging a number of small exploratory trenches around the site of the "Brodgar New Hoose" - in particular that the area around Lochview could be still house an extremely well-preserved Neolithic village.

Absolutely fascinating stuff here, so go read it all!

(have I mentioned lately how much I want to back to Orkney?)

Posted by Ithildin at June 16, 2004 3:02 PM | PROCURE FINE OLD WORLD ABSINTHE