The many charred seeds found at the Ness of Brodgar have survived for 5000 years, with the cereals mainly naked barley where the husks come off during harvesting but also a little emmer wheat, and there are weed seeds connected to peats, like crowberry and cinquefoils. There are signs of fruit trees as well, with crab apple pips, and also wild hazel nuts.

From the charred plant remains, says Scott Timpany, Associate Professor at UHI’s Archaeological Institute, we can understand how plants were used as food and fuel and as part of the fabric of life at the Ness.

This is one of several events marking the post-excavation progress for the Ness of Brodgar. It follows the closure of the main excavations two years ago, the ongoing work on the vast array of finds, and the four-week reopening of a small area for an additional investigation this past summer.

News from the finds comes from Prof. Ingrid Mainland, Assoc. Prof. Scott Timpany, and Prof. Mark Edmonds, while Nick Card reports on this summer’s work and also leads a walk around the site and provides at first hand the latest updates.

In 2020 during the Covid break, Nick Card, Ingrid Mainland and Scott Timpany gave a progress report on the continuing work of scientific analysis of the finds in The Science of the Ness. That same year, in a film made by Mark Jenkins, Stories in Stones, Mark Edmonds went in search for some of the stone artefacts discovered on the site.

The atmosphere of excavations at the Ness of Brodgar has been captured in a composition of drawing, painting and sound, Drawing Archaeology, made by Dr Karen Wallis who was an Artist in Residence on the site from 2016. It’s more than a documentary, aiming instead to evoke the physical existence of the dig and the process and the everyday presence of the archaeologists, in a flow of voices and images.

For the latest information at any time, the Ness of Brodgar website has a wealth of details and resources.