Day 18
Great discoveries today! We have a large team for the final week which has made a big difference already.
While excavation of the Early Bronze Age house continued, resulting in the uncovering of the hearth and a fine raised platform in the recess, we began examining the Early Neolithic structure. This resulted in the discovery of more divisional uprights (orthostats) and after removing the stone rubble which has been thrown in to fill and level the interior (for the Early Bronze Age constructions) the majority of interior walling has been exposed and is of the highest quality.
The stalled side compartment of the Early Neolithic building emerging. (📷 Jane Downes)
It now seems this building is a massive hall of over 20 metres in length. The internal area is subdivided by no fewer than five paired orthostats which has not been seen before in Orkney (apart from in some chambered tombs). Access was through a side entrance. We are pondering whether the “hall” was erected around a pre-existing standing stone, but this remains to be confirmed.
To find such a monumental Early Neolithic building in Sanday is truly astonishing as such a scale of construction has never been encountered before in the North Isles. Tomorrow the rubble will continue to be removed and the interior features, such as hearths, will hopefully come to light. The internal wall faces are standing high and already we can see this is one of the most beautiful Early Neolithic buildings encountered in Britain.
Professor Colin Richards
Catching up
Atrocious weather impacted excavation work last week, but we did manage some time on site – in between gales and rain.
On day 15, the Spurness team was joined by some enthusiastic and knowledgable young diggers. (📷 Jane Downes)
