Spurness 2025: dig diary day ten
The penultimate day of excavation saw a buzz across the site as we race to get as much done before backfilling the site on Friday.
Category: Sanday
Spurness 2025 – dig diary day eight
Our first pottery, an elusive wall section and a spectacular flaked stone adze!
Spurness 2025 – dig diary day seven
The second and final week of this demanding, but rewarding, field season got under way today with a full complement of student diggers and volunteers on site.
Spurness 2025 – open day and talk
We’re hosting an open day at the excavation site and the Sanday Heritage Centre on Sunday, August 10, followed by a talk in the school on Friday, August 15, at 7.30pm.
Spurness 2025 – dig diary day five
The covers are off and the archaeology continues to perplex!
Spurness 2025 – dig diary day four
The bulk of the infill at the western end of the Bronze Age structure is now gone – ready for the covers to come off tomorrow.
Spurness 2025 – dig diary day three
Full steam ahead – deturfing and cleaning continued but the southern wall has emerged.
Spurness 2025 – dig diary day two
Thwarted by Storm Floris! Although the weather saw digging cancelled, there was a chance to see some Sanday archaeology up close.
Spurness 2025 – dig diary day one
Day one of our excavation in Sanday – and it was a day of deturfing and cleaning.
3D model of the Spurness prehistoric structures
A 3d model from Dr Hugo Anderson-Whymark showing the Bronze Age structures in Spurness, Sanday, under excavation in 2018.
Back to Sanday to investigate the Neolithic-Bronze Age transition
A team from the UHI Archaeology Institute is back in Sanday to continue excavating a Neolithic/Bronze Age site.
Tombs of the Isles – lots of interest in project at Sanday launch
Our Tombs of the Isles project reached Sanday last week, with launch events on Wednesday and Thursday.
Video: Tresness – fresh findings from Sanday stalled cairn
The recording of November’s UHI Archaeology Institute research seminar, which took place on Friday, November 26, 2021.
Pictish Cross found in Sanday, Orkney
Orkney’s county archaeologist, Julie Gibson, features in the above video alongside an 8th-10th Century AD Pictish symbol stone found in Sanday last month.
Analysis of Cata Sand shells and whalebone under way
Analysis of the whalebone and shells recovered during the excavations at Cata Sand, Sanday, Orkney, is under way at the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute.
Cata Sand dig now under way in Sanday following online appeal
The excavation of Neolithic houses found on the beach at Cata Sand, Sanday, Orkney is now under way.
Teams from the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute and the University of Central Lancashire arrived on the island last weekend to uncover the site and begin a series of excavations centred on the sites at Cata Sand settlement and Tresness tomb.
A summer of archaeology part two – Sanday excavations
The second in a series of blog posts looking at the main findings from the excavations undertaken during the summer of 2018.
Summer of digging – Sanday update by UHI student Ross
Summer of digging – Sanday update by UHI student Ross
‘Northern Exposure’ project unearths a Bronze Age surprise in Sanday
The team from the UHI Archaeology Institute and UCLan are progressing well with the excavations in Sanday – one of the northern isles of Orkney – and have unearthed a few surprises.
Cata Sand and Tresness excavation fieldwork reports now available
The Data Structure Reports (DSR) detailing the exciting 2017 excavations at Cata Sand and Tresness Chambered Tomb, Sanday, Orkney are now available for download.