Publications

Ness of Brodgar book a best-seller with second print run under way

Sigurd Towrie1 Comment

Less than two months since its launch, the third volume in the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute research series has almost sold out.

The book, The Ness of Brodgar: As it Stands, presents over a decade’s worth of information on all aspects of the monumental Neolithic site in Orkney.

Demand has been such that almost all the original 1,000 copies have gone and a second print run is under way.

Nick Card, of the UHI Archaeology Institute, is the Ness of Brodgar site director and one of the book’s editors. He said that although he suspected the book would be popular, he was not expecting a response on this scale.

“In archaeological terms, we’ve got a best-seller on our hands and copies of the book have been flying off the shelves to addresses around the world since November 18.

“We thought the initial print run of 1,000 would keep us going for quite a while, but our stock is now down to double figures. Clearly interest in the excavations at this phenomenal site shows no sign of waning.”

Professor Jane Downes, director of the UHI Archaeology Institute, added: “There is clearly a huge appetite around the world for in-depth information about this important site – from academics and the general public, who have been inspired through the site to learn more about life in Orkney 5,000 years ago.”

Published by The Orcadian, the next batch of books is expected in February.

Introducing the forthcoming Ness of Brodgar book

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Nick Card and Anne Mitchell of the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute introduce the forthcoming interim monograph, The Ness of Brodgar: As it Stands.

The book, due for release on November 18, 2020, is the third volume in the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute research series and available to pre-order now.

Ness of Brodgar monograph available to pre-order

Sigurd Towrie

The third volume in the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute research series is available to pre-order now.

The Ness of Brodgar – As it Stands provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the Ness of Brodgar excavations and is due to be released on November 18.

The full-colour book features contributions from University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute staff as well as specialists from around the world. The result is 27 chapters, each devoted to different elements of the site, its excavation and interpretation.

The Ness of Brodgar: As it Stands, edited by Nick Card, Mark Edmonds and Anne Mitchell, is published by The Orcadian, priced £35.99. To pre-order, click here.

‘The Ness of Brodgar: As it Stands’ – November launch for third volume of UHI Archaeology Institute’s research series

Sigurd Towrie
Ness of Brodgar: As it Stands Cover

A November release date has been set for the third volume of the UHI Archaeology Institute’s research series.

The Ness of Brodgar: As it Stands focuses on the ongoing excavation at the Neolithic site in Stenness, Orkney, and will be launched on Wednesday, November 18.

UHI excavation at the Ness of Brodgar began in 2006 and the interim monograph presents over a decade’s worth of information on all aspects of the monumental Neolithic complex, providing a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the project’s findings.

The book features contributions from institute staff as well as specialists from around the world. The result is 27 chapters, each devoted to different aspects of the site, its excavation and interpretation.

Structure Eight. Ness of Brodgar. (Scott Pike)
Looking along the length of Structure Eight at the Ness of Brodgar. (Picture: Scott Pike)

The Ness of Brodgar: As it Stands, edited by Nick Card, Mark Edmonds and Anne Mitchell, is published by The Orcadian and will be available to the public from November 18, priced £35.99.

The second volume in the UHI Archaeology Institute series, Landscapes Revealed: Remote Sensing Across the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, was launched last week.

Landscapes Revealed – second volume of UHI Archaeology Institute research series out now

Sigurd Towrie

A substantial Neolithic settlement at the north-western end of the Ness of Brodgar is one of hundreds of new archaeological sites outlined in a new book from the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute.

Landscapes Revealed: Remote Sensing Across the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, the second volume in the institute’s research series, documents a nine-year project that surveyed a 285-hectare area between Skara Brae and Maeshowe.

The project, which ran from 2002 until 2011, revealed a wealth of new sites, as well as helped chart the changing character of the landscape and shed new light on the known monuments and their place in the historic and more recent past.

The Neolithic site mentioned above lies to the north-west of, and is on a par with, the Ness of Brodgar excavation site. Based on the surveys and the finds collected in the field, it seems we may have something of the same magnitude as the Ness and incorporating similarly large structures. But of particular interest is the fact that this settlement is merely one facet of a landscape incredibly rich in archaeology — containing evidence of life from the Neolithic all the way through to long-gone 19th century farmsteads.

Gradiometer data interpretation of an area north of Buckan Farm, Sandwick, at the north-western end of the Ness of Brodgar. (ORCA)

Staying on the Ness, north-west of the Ring of Brodgar are Bronze Age houses that are providing important insights into this enigmatic period of Orcadian prehistory. The structures lay close to – but a respectable distance from – the stone circle, where the householders placed the remains of their dead in a manner similar to that encountered at Stonehenge.

Bronze Age dwellings were also discovered inland from Skara Brae, showing that people did not abandon the area but adapted their way of life in the face of climate change, increasing storminess and encroaching sand.

Moving into the Iron Age, the surveys revealed in startling detail the brochs that loomed over the ruins of Skara Brae and the Stones of Stenness. With the latter, the broch-dwellers continued to act out rituals at what was already an ancient stone circle. Clearly the Neolithic monuments continued to inspire.

To find out more, pick up a copy of the book.

Landscapes Revealed: Remote Sensing Across the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, by Amanda Brend, Nick Card, Jane Downes, Mark Edmonds and James Moore.  Published by Oxbow Books, the hardback is available now, priced £35.

Co-authored by Archaeology Institute professor, first volume of new Stonehenge tetralogy launched

Sigurd Towrie
The UHI Archaeology Institute’s Prof. Colin Richards (second from left) at the excavation around the Tor Stone.

In 2003, a team of archaeologists from five universities began the first long-term programme of fieldwork focused on Stonehenge in decades.

The Stonehenge Riverside Project was co-directed by Prof. Mike Parker Pearson (UCL), Prof. Josh Pollard (Southampton), Prof. Julian Thomas (Manchester), Prof. Chris Tilley (UCL), Prof. Kate Welham (Bournemouth), and Prof. Colin Richards of the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute.

The project ran until 2009, its goal to consider the iconic monument within its wider archaeological context. The working hypothesis behind the venture links Stonehenge with a complex of timber monuments at the henge of Durrington Walls and neighbouring Woodhenge.

The first volume of a set of four was launched this week and presents the results of the seven-year project. Stonehenge for the Ancestors: Part One includes details of the monuments and landscape that pre-dated Stonehenge – particularly the role of the River Avon – as well as excavation work on the monument itself.

A key discovery was cremated human remains at Stonehenge, which allowed their demography, health and dating to be established. With a revised radiocarbon chronology for the five stages of Stonehenge’s construction these burials can now be considered within the context of the monument’s development.

The different types of stone used in the construction of Stonehenge – bluestones from Wales and sarsen silcretes from more local sources – are investigated both at Stonehenge and surrounding monuments, including the Cuckoo Stone and the Tor Stone, as well as the newly discovered Bluestonehenge circle at West Amesbury beside the River Avon.

Stonehenge for the Ancestors Part One – Landscape and Monuments is published by Sidetone Press and available to purchase now.

The book can also be read, for free, here.