Neolithic site in Orkney to be reburied after 20 years of excavation

In a few weeks, archaeologists will gather at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney and for the next two months excavate at one of Europe’s greatest prehistoric sites.Then, on 16 August, the team will down their trowels and brushes for the last time. Soil will be tipped over the ancient walls they have strived to uncover over the past two decades, the ground across the Ness will be returfed and the site returned, in perpetuity, to its former status: an anonymous green field.

“What we have discovered is just the tip of a huge archaeological iceberg,” said Nick Card, who has directed excavations at the Ness since the site was revealed in 2003. “There are more than 100 buildings here. Underneath the most recent ones lie countless older edifices. Excavations began and showed that the mound was mostly manmade. The six-acre site was found to contain dozens of buildings that were linked to outhouses and kitchens by stone pavements. The bones of hundreds of cattle, elegantly made pottery and pieces of painted ceramics were found scattered round the site,In size and sophistication, the Ness rivals the wonders of Sutton Hoo and Hadrian’s Wall.

“At this time, the Ness would have been known just not in Orkney but right across Britain. It was occupied for something like 60 to 70 generations. That is the same sort of timescale that separates us today from people who were alive at the Battle of Hastings. So you can see this was a place of lasting cultural importance.”Card added that another major factor involved in deciding to rebury the Ness lay with the stones that had been used to construct its buildings.

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