This is quite a long post with a fair few photos, so you might want to get yourself a drink and snack before you start – I did!

The Ness of Brodgar is a huge neolithic site, near the ring of Brodgar. It’s similar to nearby Skara Brae in some ways, but is believed to be even older and is made from different rock. As some of the photos show, the archeology starts just a few inches below ground, yet amazingly the site was only discovered in 2003 and at the time was thought to be a small tomb! Other photos show how the stone is ‘delaminating’. It’s because of this that the site will be back filled at the end of this year, to preserve it for future generations, despite only a fraction of it having been excavated. That makes this summer the last chance to see it – and perhaps explains the huge crowds of people taking advantage of the opportunity.

These images were taken the first day the site re-opened to the public.

In some images there is clear evidence of subsidence. This we were told was due to ‘shonky’ workmanship. The builders could clearly do good work, but hadn’t bothered with proper foundations – the theory is these may have been temporary structures.

In other pictures you can see nice straight lines and neat corners. That’s just how they found it – nothing has been reconstructed or repaired.

Talking of snacks, evidence of feasting was found at the ness. About 400 cattle legs seemed to have been scoffed at one event. This is a life-sized representation of what those cattle would have looked like. A well nourished writer has been included for scale.

We found the site so interesting, we went back another day, when more had been uncovered. Obviously we took more photos! I’ve included a few details of what may be neolithic art, and some small ‘standing stones’ which were used for other than structural reasons – plus a few more signs which explain eveything better than I can!