Prof. Ingrid Mainland of UHI’s Archaeology Institute describes the picture emerging from analysis of the vast number of bone fragments found at the Ness of Brodgar – of cattle and their diet and origins, of sheep, pigs and red deer, and dogs as well. And among the bird bones were – a white-tailed eagle. She brings the latest news of insights into the relationships of people and animals emerging from the finds.
Take the 10 am ferry to Graemsay and enjoy a rather special day on the island, with a natural history walk and lunch and stories of the sea – and welcome the arrival of the drone that now carries the mail from Stromness, providing the UK’s first full time drone delivery service. The ferry goes via Moaness so you’ll see more of the Hoy coast on the way.
The many charred seeds found at the Ness of Brodgar have survived for 5000 years. The cereals are mainly naked barley, also a little emmer wheat. Peat-connected weed seeds include crowberry and cinquefoils. There are signs of fruit trees too, with crab apple pips and 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, fuel, and part of the fabric of life at the Ness.
A day of marine workshops you can choose from, which will let you see some more of the town as well. There’s a marine life colonisation lab session at Heriot-Watt University’s Robert Rendall Building at 11.30 am, a Plankton Creative Workshop at Stromness Museum at 2 pm, and a Plankton Dip at the Pole Star Pier at 3.30 pm.
Meet friends old or new and enjoy the best of Orkney cheese, meat, fish and baking. Come in good time for the best choice of food and for the Toast. The One O’Clock Toast today is to Prof. Lord Colin Renfrew, excavator of Quanterness and the greatest archaeologist of his time. It is given by Prof. Mark Edmonds.
It's not only the scale of the Ness of Brodgar that stands out – it’s the sheer quality of the building work. There are piers at intervals in the walls and evidence of flagstone roofs, and cleanly-faced, close-fitting stones that look as fresh as if they had been built today. The craft of building at the Ness, along with what's being learned from detailed study of individual tools, is described by Mark Edmonds, Emeritus Professor at the University of York and Visiting Professor at UHI’s Archaeology Institute.
It was Samuel Morse who suggested a transatlantic submarine telegraph link. When the first cable was completed in 1858 flags flew in New York streets and church bells rang. But it soon failed and it was eight years before a new attempt succeeded – using the iron-hulled Great Eastern, the largest ship the world had seen, and a great improvement in cable design masterminded by the physicist William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin. Dr Alan Walker tells a tale of cables, ships and human determination.
A multimedia one-man show developed by musician and composer Christopher Andrew Maier on the history of the wind-up gramophone and the life of its inventor, Eldridge Reeves Johnson. Labelled at school “too goddamned dumb” for college and put to work in a Philadelphia machine shop, he developed it into a company known worldwide as Victor Talking Machine. He turned the hand-cranked Berliner Gramophone into a spring-driven mass-market product and produced 78 rpm shellac records, with the little dog’s picture, listening to ‘His Master’s Voice’. The show has a seamless video musical backcloth and includes a working 1907 gramophone with vintage discs, from Caruso to the Charleston.
Two years ago the Ness of Brodgar excavations had closed, with the long haul of studying the finds continuing. Then a Ground Penetrating Radar survey of the site showed something totally unexpected – so much so that a small team went back in July to investigate, supported by the Time Team. Site director Nick Card has now had time to take stock of the findings and provide the latest update.
After the remarkable achievements of John Rae in the harsh Arctic terrain, his return to the world of Victorian Britain was hard. He had tackled the two great Arctic challenges of the time – the fate of the Franklin expedition and the final link for a Northwest Passage – but his information about the fate of Franklin had led to Lady Franklin destroying his reputation, helped by Charles Dickens. Then Iceberg, the ship he built with a plan to return to the Arctic, foundered in a storm and sank with the loss of all hands. His great-great-grandniece, Alice Jane Hamilton, has written a novel about this time in John Rae’s life, based on the actual events, reconstructing some of the family conversations, and this evening she tells the story of the chain of events that caused his life to fall apart, and how the pieces eventually came back together.
We've thirty years of friendship with the Slovenian Science Foundation to celebrate, and they've arranged for Damir Kapitanovic from the Klet Brda vineyards to make a first visit to Orkney with some of their wines from their growers for Festival-goers to taste. We will be joined online by Andraž Ivšek and Peter Volasko, who will reflect on the long tradition of Slovenian winemaking, with a toast or two as well.