The Ness of Brodgar Dig - Open Day 2018

Bit of a misnomer n the title there as the Ness of Brodgar dig has tow open days, one at the beginning of the season and one at the end. The first ne was last Sunday and we pootled over to have  a look.

The dig hasn't been gong long this year yet but there was still lots to see and learn about.

A general view of part of the site. Only about 10% of it has been uncovered as yet. Some of it is below the loch, and some will never be dug because houses have been built on top, but even so, as one of the guides said, there are archaeologists not yet born who will retire from this site before it is fully explored. 

a nice neat trench!

replicas of  stone pots found here - different sorts from different places, a sign of trade, or that the Ness was a gathering point for people from all over Orkney. 

Trench T, new this year. The mound it is in was totally ma made in the Neolithic.

In Trench T they discovered these strange pits which were totally empty. No-one knows what they were for. 

and the walls in there  - Trench T is uncovering part of a huge structure - had drains, just visible in this picture. 

Part of the fun for us was seeing one or two people we know for the first time this year. I also paid a visit to the Dig shop where I knew they had some nice knitting patterns , based on art work found n some of the excavated stones here, for sale. And who knows, maybe one day I'll actually knit them up! 

The OH is digging here for a couple of weeks later in the summer so I'll find out a lot more about what they find. Meanwhile for anyone interested the dig has an excellent website here