Statements in stone: Investigating Neolithic architecture at the Ness of Brodgar

In mainland Britain and Ireland, when archaeologists excavate the remains of Neolithic buildings, they usually encounter only outlines formed from post-holes and beam slots: the ghosts of long-decayed timbers. In Orkney, though, contemporary communities seem to have done things differently. Stone structures – from the settlement at Skara Brae to individual houses like that at Smerquoy – have been identified across the archipelago, but they appear on another scale altogether at the Ness of Brodgar. This name officially refers to the thin strip of land separating the lochs of Harray and Stenness, but it has become inseparably linked with a remarkable archaeological site that was first iden