Orkney Archaeology Review 2025…..
by Bernie Bell - 09:19 on 22 May 2025
Orkney Archaeology Review 2025…..
I’ll begin by quoting from page one….
“Cover from the Ness of Brodgar – the last discovery on the last day of the dig.”
The first article, by Sigurd Towrie, is entitled….’The last season excavating at the Ness’.
I’ve written about the dig over the years, and also about my feelings about it being over…..
The Ness Sleeps
The Ness sleeps
Under earth
Under sky
Between Lochs.
Grass will come
Flowers will come
To form a blanket
Keeping it safe.
Knowing folk will come
To break its slumber
What might they
Uncover?
BB Sept. ‘24
Here’s the tale our last visit to the dig….
http://www.spanglefish.com/berniesblog/blog.asp?blogid=16925
…but I strongly recommend that you buy the Review and read Sigurd’s concise, clear description of the last dig – and remember that the post-excavation work is on-going and needs funding….
https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/donate/
******
Steve Sankey explains the plans to re-open the Tomb of the Eagles – aka Isbister Chambered Cairn – aka, to me, the Eagle Cairn rather than ‘tomb’.
I see the smaller cairns as being like Parish churches, for the local folk. Old churches often have people buried under the floor, that doesn’t make them just ‘tombs’ though, does it? They were for all the big human things – joining – naming - and acknowledging that the spirit was returning to Spirit.
Other, more knowledgeable, people have said this too, and the more you look at it, the more it makes sense. I certainly see this as being the case with the Eagle Cairn.
Steve tells of a plan to build a replica tomb to make the interior of the cairn accessible to those unable to enter it. This has been done with a house at Skara Brae and is A GOOD THING!
I’ll be interested to see if this plan comes to fruition as I, personally, would no longer be able to scuttle along the entrance passage as I used to!
A replica can’t give the feel of the place, but can reproduce and present the factual archaeology.
******
Hugo Anderson-Whymark and Vicki Cummings tell of how the tomb at Blomuir, Holm was discovered in 1896, noted and reported on by local antiquary James Walls Cursiter, then forgotten!
Since 2020, interest has been re-kindled and excavations have taken place. The tomb is exceptional due to the presence of intact and un-touched deposits. Many of the tombs previously discovered in Orkney had already been ‘emptied’ or damaged – with the exception of the Tomb of the Eagles!
******
And now for something completely different……moving forward in time a few thousand years……in 2024 winter storms exposed the timber of a wrecked ship at the Sands O’ Erraby, Sanday. The experts are still working on these timbers, which show similarities to English and Dutch shipbuilding techniques of the 17th and 18th Centuries.
To find out more, you’ll need to read the article by Ben Saunders!
Fact is…… you’ll need to buy the Review to read……
Memoir of excavations in Orkney by Anna Richie
Review: Stone Circles, a Field Guide by David Drever
A Glass Act? by Martin Carruthers
Orkney Museum: New Acquisitions by Dr Siobhan Cooke-Miller
The Saga of the Earls of Orkney by Judith Jesch
Margery Isobel Platt by Kevin Kerr
And ….
Colin Renfrew and the Orcadian Neolithic by Dr. Colin Richards.
The Review is available from The Orcadian Bookshop or the Orkney Archaeology Society on-line shop, along with Reviews from previous years…
https://shop.orkneyarchaeologysociety.org.uk/
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