New 3d model of the Spurness Neolithic structure
A new model, courtesy of UHI Archaeology Institute PhD student Logan O’Brien, of the Sanday Neolithic structure at the end of the 2025 dig last week.
Category: Northern Exposure
Spurness 2025 – dig diary day twelve
That’s this season’s dig finished, the trench backfilled and we’re beginning to get packed up for the journeys home.
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.
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.
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.
An archaeological window into the Early Bronze Age in Orkney
Professor Colin Richards of the University of Manchester writes about developments at the recently discovered Bronze Age settlement in Orkney.