The Ness of Brodgar is a Neolithic-era archaeological site covering located between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. Excavations took place from 2003 to 2024, after which the site was infilled to protect the exposed structures from environmental damage.
The site has provided evidence of decorated stone slabs, a stone wall thick with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic temple. Activity at the site can be dated to around 3500–3400 BC. By 2200 BC, the site had been closed down and partially dismantled.
Location
Located off the West Mainland of Orkney, The Ness of Brodgar is the name of a peninsula that separates the freshwater Loch of Harray and brackish Loch of Stenness. Surrounded by windswept grassy plains and farmland, the Ness of Brodgar is located within the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, an area revered for its grouping of well preserved neolithic monuments. The site spans about three hectares (about seven and a half acres), and contains the remains of a complex of Neolithic stone structures dating back to around 3000 BC.
Researchers claim that during the early Neolithic period, during the time the Ness of Brodgar buildings would have been constructed, the landscape surrounding the Ness of Brodgar and its neighbouring lakes was very different. Loch Stenness is predicted to have been less brackish, and the nearby landscape would have contained more mixed forests of birch, hazel, willow, oak, and pine. Both lakes would have had lower water levels, leading to theories that there may be additional buried Neolithic buildings beneath the lakes today. Over time, rising sea levels, storm surges, and agricultural land development changed the surrounding landscape into what it is today. People from Skara Brae would have been able to walk to the Ness of Brodgar, watch or take part in ritual activity and walk home within a day.
To the southeast are the Standing Stones of Stenness and to the north-west is the Ring of Brodgar. A short bridge connects these two sites. Also visible from the site are, to the east, the chambered cairn at Maeshowe and, to the southeast, the Barnhouse Settlement. A couple of kilometres northwest of the Ring of Brodgar is the Ring of Bookan, a third henge, with associated mounds. The Neolithic village at Skara Brae lies a few kilometres away, as does the chambered cairn at Unstan. More archaeology is likely submerged beneath the lochs.
Structures The structures at Brodgar are numbered in the order of discovery. As more of the site was uncovered and the interpretations improved, some numbers went out of use, so as of 2026 the main structures are numbered 1, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 26 and 27.
The structures currently visible are structures 1, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14, 26, 27, and part of 32. There are also past structures beneath them, and some buildings were destroyed, modified, or built over. Buildings that are no longer visible include structures 7, 11, 9, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, and 36.
Starting in the early 2000s, the excavation of the Ness of Brodgar consisted of 10 trenches and 9 test pits. Excavation ended in August 2024. The trenches are labelled J, L, M, N, P, Q, R, T, X, and Y. The pits are labelled A, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and K.
The structures are made of flagstone, a sedimentary rock found abundantly throughout Orkney. Flagstone is easily split into flat stones and was therefore a good material for fine building work using Neolithic tools. Some of the stone found on site is too thin for floor tiles or wall building, and is understood as the earliest evidence ever found of roofs.
Trench P
Structure 1
Structure 1 was discovered in 2003, and was the first structure in the Ness of the Brodgar site to be found. What remains of the building are well preserved metre high walls, and feature more than 70 examples of Neolithic art. The structure was rebuilt and remodelled at least three times. It appears to have been built on the remains of an earlier structure, structure 40.
The original form of structure 1 was built around 3100 BC, and measured around 15 metres long and 10 metres wide. It was shaped like a double cross, with a set of piers connected to the side walls and partitioned by orthostats in the floor. The piers divided the building in half. Each side had its own hearth and offset entrance doorways. The south entrance featured decorated stones.
Some of the individual stones of structure 1 were painted yellow, red, and orange using ochre pigment made of haematite mixed with animal fat, milk or eggs. This is the earliest discovery in Britain of evidence that Neolithic people used paint to decorate their buildings.
Structure 1 has a complex history and appears to have been central to the site. Originally it was more than long, but was radically rebuilt within about a century of its first construction: two doors were blocked up, a new door was inserted and a new wall built. It was decorated with many pieces of stone artwork, some of which were internal to the walls and would never have been seen while the building was in use.
Around 200 years after its initial creation, structure 1 underwent major reconstruction. Most of the partition slabs were removed, and a curved wall was built across the middle of the northern room, reducing the size of the structure. Three large orthostats were inserted into the curved wall. Both original doorways were sealed, and a new one was made on the eastern wall. Roof tiles discovered beneath the new wall suggest that the roof had caved in or had been collapsed intentionally.
In 2015, the bones of a baby, which died around the time of birth, were unearthed in a recess of this building.
Structure 8
Structure 8 is a long, somewhat oval shaped structure built on top of structures 17 and 18. The inside of the structure was separated by double piers and contained at least four stone hearths.
Structure 8 was the first building at the Ness where stone roof tiles were discovered, and the first building on site where coloured pigment was found on the walls. Structure 8 was built around 3100 BC, just after structure 1 was completed. This structure was built on unstable foundations. The building was slowly sinking to one side, eventually resulting in a collapse that destroyed the southern half of the building. Even after the partial collapse, the building remained in use. Excavation resulted in the discovery of many items, including animal bones, polished quartz, and stone spatulate tools. None of the spatulate tools show signs of wear and their purpose is unknown. Other finds from this structure included a whalebone mace head and a whale's tooth set in stone.
Structure 10
Structure 10 was discovered in 2008, and is built on top of the rubble from Structure 8's collapsed wall, as well as the remains of Structure 20 and 33. It is a large square building with an inner, middle, and outer wall. The stone both inside and outside the building is decorated with paint and engravings. It is believed to have been constructed around 2900 BC, and appears to have been partly rebuilt around 2800 BC, probably due to structural instability. This is the largest structure of its kind anywhere in the north of Britain and it would have dominated the ritual landscape of the peninsula.
Structure 10 was used until around 2400–2200 BC, when it appears to have been "closed" in an extraordinary and unique episode of ceremonial demolition involving the slaughter of several hundred cattle. Tibias (shin bones) of approximately 400 cattle comprise the vast majority of bones found. The bones were laid around structure 10 and an upturned cow skull was placed within it. The tibias appear to have been cracked to extract the marrow, suggesting that this slaughter was accompanied by a feast. All the slaughter seems to have taken place in a single event. After the feast, the whole carcasses of several red deer were placed atop the broken bones, and structure 10 was largely destroyed. This event appears to have marked the closure and abandonment of the Ness of Brodgar site. Blanz, Magdalena, et al., "Life, death and teeth of Late Neolithic sheep and red deer excavated at Ness of Brodgar, Orkney Islands (UK)", Environmental Archaeology 29.6, pp. 465-477, 2024
Structure 12
Structure 12 was built over at least three ovular structures, with estimates for its initial construction dating (radiocarbon) back to around 3100-2900 BC. Split into two sections, the building includes six piers, four recesses and two hearths, one on each side. Because of its precarious position over previous structures, parts of the southern end of the building collapsed. This collapse most likely occurred between 2820-2585 BC based on radiocarbon dates from smashed pots near the southern hearth. Structure 12 was then remodelled several times, including rebuilding the southern wall, filling the original south and northwest entrances, and adding eastern and northern entrances. After these reconstructions, structure 12 was eventually, and likely deliberately, destroyed, and several large decorated stones were artificially fractured.
The new north entrance led to a forecourt which survived the destruction of the main building. Excavation of this forecourt revealed two upright grooved ware pots, pottery shards, hammerstones, and a macehead piece. The red, black, or white pottery at structure 12 was typically decorated by attaching cordons (strips of clay) directly to the main piece, but these often fell off. Another technique was to carve a groove into the piece and press the cordon into it.
The grooved ware styles found at the Ness of Brodgar in structure 12 later spread southwards from Orkney through the repeated motifs of the "eyebrow" and "Brodgar Butterfly," amongst others.
Structure 14
Structure 14 was built around 3000 BC, roughly contemporaneously with structures 1, 8 and 12. It is in the northernmost part of Trench P, northeast of and built against one wall of Structure 1. An ovular building with internal measurements of about metres by metres, structure 14 went through at least two phases of construction. The first phase featured three entrances and several orthostats forming divisions within the building. The second phase included removing some of those orthostat divisions, narrowing the southern entrance, leveling the floor of the northwest side, and adding yellow clay to the floor of the whole structure. Structure 14 had entrances on the northeast end and southeast side, with a cell in the southwest and two hearths centered in each half of the building. The entire structure was eventually dismantled, leaving only the northern foundations and small parts of the southern walls.
A great deal of stone from structure 14 was taken in antiquity for re-use elsewhere, and like all the other structures except structure 10, it appears to have been largely demolished by 2600 BC.
An axehead made of gneiss and a polished igneous stone were found beneath the floor of structure 14, and a carinated bowl shard was found among midden deposits and structural remains dating back to around 3300 BC, before structure 14 was built. A baked clay artefact known as the "Brodgar Boy", and thought to be a figurine with a head, body, and two eyes, was unearthed in the rubble of structure 14 in 2011. It was found in two sections, the smaller of which measures 30 mm.The 'Brodgar Boy' emerges … but what was it? - Dig Diary July 28, 2020
Structure 16 Structure 16 was built sometime between 3000-2900 BC directly south of structure 14. It was about by , with an entrance directly across from the entrance of structure 14. Structure 16 had a central hearth and one clay floor deposit, though the eastern side has not been excavated as of 2021. It was likely torn down at the same time as structure 14.
Structures 17 and 18