It is easy to become immersed in the archaeology of the Ness of Brodgar…
The sheer scale of the Neolithic archaeology concentrated in one small area, the amazing stonework, the stunning location and of course the incredible artefacts that are continually coming out of the site. Just yesterday the first decorated stone emerged from the ground.
But as I was reminded today, the site as it exists, represents a very small proportion of the whole site; perhaps ten per cent or even less. This means that this site was huge in terms of the neolithic and if extant today would still be a sizeable settlement (if that is the right word) in Orkney!
The craftmanship involved in the creation of the stonework itself is stunning in several areas across the site. In fact it is the first thing you notice – once you get your eye in. This is not a rough assemblage of stones, piled one on top of another, but a carefully crafted building project that required skill and knowledge to assemble. In many respects the stone looks as if it was set in place last week and is just waiting for the builders to return from their lunch break!
Hopefully this will be the first in a series of blog posts concerning The Ness of Brodgar in which I will explore various themes.
