Ness of Brodgar
The Ness of Brodgar is a 2.5 hectare archaeological excavation site on the Scottish island of Mainland . It originated here between 3300 and 3200 BC. BC one of the largest ceremonial sites in the British Isles. It lasted a millennium.
Since 2003, the Mainland has been digging between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness in the so-called heart of Neolithic Orkney , a World Heritage Site between the Loch of Harray and the Loch of Stenness . However, the latter lake did not yet exist during the Neolithic, but was only created around 1500 BC. Nick Card is the head of the excavation , and staff from Orkney College and the universities of Aberdeen , Cardiff and Glasgow are involved .
Although the Stone of Brodgar was discovered by two archaeologists in 1925 and is now in the Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh, the site was dormant until 2003. It was not until 2003, when the owners had the field plowed, that a stone with four clearly recognizable notches came to light. Since the stone looked like it had been handcrafted, they called on Nick Card, a roofer who had developed into an archaeologist. This in turn brought in another archaeologist, who began to sound out and discovered a wall. A geophysical survey revealed confusing structures underground. This was followed by selective excavations under the direction of Nick Card. One of the walls was thicker than Hadrian's Wall . Pechstein from the island of Arran , about 250 km away, shows extensive exchange.
The site was preserved for about 1000 years until 2300 BC. Used and has two wall rings and houses, temple-like monumental buildings. Among them is a 100 m long and up to 4 m thick stone wall discovered in 2007, which is known as the Great Wall of Brodgar . It stretches across the entire peninsula and could have separated the area from the outside world. A smaller wall, known as the Lesser Wall of Brodgar , was also found.
A temple-like structure, which was discovered in 2008 (Structure 10), has 5 m thick walls that have been preserved up to a height of 1 m. The building is 25 m long and 20 m wide. A menhir ( English standing stone ) with a hole was integrated into the wall. Remains of paving were found around the building, the interior is laid out in a cross shape, which can possibly be explained by different areas of use. Around 2600 BC Structures 1, 8 and 12 were carefully dismantled and structure 10, the monumental temple building, was built in its place, the catchment area of which the excavator claims to be at least the Orkney Islands, if not far beyond.
The monumental building was surrounded by another wall, which could only be passed through a narrow passage marked by a standing stone. A massive roof could have been supported on this wall, so that one has to imagine a pyramid-like structure. The area between the core structure and the outer wall was paved. The interior, probably a kind of sanctuary, was only 6 by 6 m. The building was built around 2300 BC. Abandoned BC.
Apparently this moment was celebrated with a big festival, because the remains of around 600 cattle were found, which were certainly used to entertain thousands of visitors. It is noticeable that a dead stag was left behind when the residents finally left the site. Other deer finds suggest that it may be a threshold ritual. In any case, only Neolithic ceramics (Grooved Ware) were found on the site, but no Bronze Age ceramics (Beaker pottery).
Similar to Skara Brae , knives were found, the so-called Skaill knives, which were named after Skaill Bay there. In July 2010, a red, orange and yellow painted stone was found, which was the first time that house paintings could be detected.
The number of stone works is unusually large, for example cross-shaped incisions. There were more than 60 of them in structure 1 alone. Almost every stone in structure 10 was carved. There were also remains of various pigments. It could have been a kind of paint and painting workshop, because in addition to pigments made from iron ore, there were also pigments made from galena or galena for white as well as stones with round depressions that were probably used for mixing.
In 2011, Structure 14 , a secular building, was a simply worked clay figurine in two parts. This find, called the Brodgar Boy, has a head, a simple body, and two eyes. The smaller part is only 3 cm tall and was probably part of a larger object.
literature
- Roy Towers, Nick Card, Mark R. Edmonds: The Ness of Brodgar. Digging Deeper , Archeology Institute, University of the Highlands and Islands, Kirkwall 2015.
- Richard Bates, Martin Bates, Sue Dawson, Caroline Wickham-Jones: Geophysical Survey of the Loch of Stenness, Orkney , manuscript 2012.
- Special issue 2012 of The Islander , 2012.
Web links
- Excavation website
- Ring of Brodgar
- Excavation process
Remarks
- ↑ Course of the excavation
- ^ Special issue of the Islander, 2012, p. 9.
- ↑ Rock shows Stone Age Scots keen decorators , in: The Herald, July 28, 2010.
- ^ "Brodgar Boy" ( Memento from September 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Orkneyjar. Retrieved August 28, 2011.
Coordinates: 59 ° 0 ′ 5.5 ″ N , 3 ° 13 ′ 39.7 ″ W.