The Ness Of Brodgar 2024….
by Bernie Bell - 08:37 on 16 July 2024
The Ness Of Brodgar 2024….
This is the last dig season at the Ness of Brodgar, for now, then it will be in-filled in – as it was last time. The halt to work was needed, for various reasons…
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/2024-excavation-end/
In a nutshell…
I’ll now describe our last pilgrimage.
We picked a fine day, were directed to a parking space, and met by a Meet & Greeter.
First we turned left, to Trench J…
……Great Wall of Brodgar with STEPS!...
A hearth which hints at the history of Structure 5 - an unusual building – lots there in one, not particularly large, trench.
Between Trech J and Trench Z – one of the last sittings for lunch at The Diggers Rest..
Trench Z is a 'new trench' – Sigurd’s Dig Diary explains why better than I could…
https://archaeologyorkney.com/2024/07/14/trenchz/
Over to Trench P for views of the largest part of the site…..
Side view.....
Then, turning right, around the spoil heap to Structure 12, which I’ve thought of as a communal kitchen since they started to find a lot of big pots and multiple hearths….
As part of Structure 12, a feature has been discovered which can best be described as a ‘slow cooker’. In an area between two ‘piers’ there was a deep deposit of an orange coloured material. When investigated, this was found to consist of ash. It’s thought that hot ash was removed from the multiple hearths of Structure 12, and placed in this space….
Food could then be cooked slowly in pots placed in this ash.
Thanks to Michaela for pointing out the position of the ‘slow-cooker’, and explaining how it worked.
This kind of slow cooking has been practised through time and in many cultures. My Aunt & Uncle in Ireland lived in the family home – a two room thatched cottage with no running water or electricity, cooking over an open turf fire, using pots suspended from a ‘crane’.
Auntie Bridie would also sometimes make a hollow in the embers of the fire, place a small pot of food in this hollow, put a lid on the pot and place hot ashes on the lid too. This could then be left to cook slowly, not needing to be attended, while the family got on with other work.
I wonder did the cooks at The Ness do this too?
‘Waste not want not’ – using all the available resources rather than just dumping the ashes?
Also using their time well – leaving something slow-cooking to free them for other activities?
We’ll never know – but people are people and some basics of life don’t change much. The hearth as the heart of a place and the Pilgrims needed to be fed.
And on, to Trench T – which has been a mystery since it was first un-earthed and looked like Eric’s home-made guitar…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/07/11/orkney-archaeological-society-review/
The Spladongas will be filled in with the rest of the site, but the images and the information they provided will remain…
https://theorkneynews.scot/2019/07/29/jo-mckenzies-layers-of-colour/
It’s still a mystery, and likely to remain so. My view is that it was a place of manufacture and processing – for one thing, processing the hides from the animals used in the feasting.
And on, to Structure 10 with it’s impressive, curving wall…..
Part of Structure 10 will now remain under Loch View, indefinitely.
Looking across the site, it’s plain to see the subsidence caused by structures being built on top of each other – resulting in something which reminds me of geological folding...
By the shop stands the traditional Big Red Barrel into which folk can post donations…
Funding will still be very much needed for post-excavation work. Which brings me to the subject to the shop – it’s never too early to get Christmas presents and if you don’t get a chance to visit The Ness, there is the on-line shop …
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/shop/
There is going to be a Time Capsule, created by Jim Middlemas, placed in the site before it’s covered over…..
At the Ness shop, they’re selling cards for only £2, on which folk can write a message - the card will then be placed in the Time Capsule.
I wrote my message, and delight in thinking that it will become part of The Ness – until next time…
We’re Watching…………..
They’re closing down the Ness again
It’s easier now, than then
We did it all with soil and midden
This stuff’s beyond our ken.
They’re closing down the Ness again
They do it every year
We thought we’d done it for all time
Or something very near.
They’re closing down Ness again
They come from far and near
They’re not that different from us
That much is very clear.
They’re closing down the Ness again
Strange folk, strange clothes, strange speech
And yet what was once known to us
Is not beyond their reach
They’re closing down the Ness again
We watch them working hard
The man in charge, is one of us
A knowing–man named Card
They’ve sealed it off
That is the end
At least for one more year.
We watch, we wait, we hope, we know
Their time to learn, is near.
Bernie Bell 28th August 2018
Add your comment
