{"it":{"id":"BRI-008","kind":"site","sub":"British Isles","name":"Ness of Brodgar","place":"United Kingdom","lat":58.997,"lon":-3.216,"date":"Activity at the site can be dated to around 3500–3400 BC.","mat":"clay;quartz","nfacts":35,"tags":["Britain"],"sum":"A stone wall 6 m thick once ran across the Ness of Brodgar, a strip of land in Orkney where, for about a thousand years, Neolithic people built some of the most ambitious stone halls in Britain.","why":"It changed ideas about Neolithic Orkney: rather than a fringe, it looks like a major cultural centre.","src":[362,618,619],"nsrc":4,"yt":"Was the far north the centre all along?","rel":["BRI-009","BRI-007","BRI-011"],"hook":"At Orkney's Ness of Brodgar, at least 400 cattle were eaten in one feast as a great hall was closed."},"S":{"362":["Wikipedia: Ness of Brodgar","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ness_of_Brodgar"],"618":["Ness of Brodgar excavation (UHI Archaeology Institute)","https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/"],"619":["UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Heart of Neolithic Orkney","https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/514"]},"rec":{"id":"BRI-008","alias":[],"ms":[{"f":"of Brodgar is a Neolithic-era archaeological site covering","a":"area","v":"2.5","u":"ha","o":"The Ness of Brodgar is a Neolithic-era archaeological site covering 2.5 ha located between the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1000"},{"f":"evidence of decorated stone slabs a stone wall","a":"thickness","v":"6","u":"m","o":"The site has provided evidence of decorated stone slabs, a stone wall 6 m thick with foundations, and a large building described as a Neolithic temple.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1001"},{"f":"was built around 3100 BC and measured around","a":"length","v":"15","u":"metres","o":"The original form of structure 1 was built around 3100 BC, and measured around 15 metres long and 10 metres wide.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1002"},{"f":"BC and measured around 15 metres long and","a":"width","v":"10","u":"metres","o":"The original form of structure 1 was built around 3100 BC, and measured around 15 metres long and 10 metres wide.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1003"},{"f":"Originally it was more than","a":"length","v":"15","u":"m","o":"Originally it was more than 15 m long, but was radically rebuilt within about a century of its first construction: two doors were blocked up, a new door was inserted and a new wall built.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1004"},{"f":"site chronology","a":"dating (as stated)","v":"Structure 12 was built over at least three ovular structures, REF27 with","u":"","o":"Structure 12 was built over at least three ovular structures, REF27 with estimates for its initial construction dating (radiocarbon) back to around 3100-2900 BC.","unc":"","by":"per cited source","yr":"","m":"documentary: auto-extracted sentence","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary)","t":"INTERPRETATION","n":"","id":"M1005"},{"f":"site chronology","a":"dating (as stated)","v":"This collapse most likely occurred between 2820-2585 BC based on radiocarbon dates from smashed pots near the so","u":"","o":"This collapse most likely occurred between 2820-2585 BC based on radiocarbon dates from smashed pots near the southern hearth.","unc":"","by":"per cited source","yr":"","m":"documentary: auto-extracted sentence","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary)","t":"INTERPRETATION","n":"","id":"M1006"},{"f":"An ovular building with internal measurements of about","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"8.5","u":"m","o":"REF35 An ovular building with internal measurements of about 8.5 m metres by 5.75 m metres, structure 14 went through at least two phases of construction.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1007"},{"f":"measurements of about 8 5 m metres by","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"5.75","u":"m","o":"REF35 An ovular building with internal measurements of about 8.5 m metres by 5.75 m metres, structure 14 went through at least two phases of construction.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1008"},{"f":"in two sections the smaller of which measures","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"30","u":"mm","o":"It was found in two sections, the smaller of which measures 30 mm.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1009"},{"f":"REF41 It was about","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"5","u":"m","o":"REF41 It was about 5 m by 3 m, with an entrance directly across from the entrance of structure 14.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1010"},{"f":"REF41 It was about 5 m by","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"3","u":"m","o":"REF41 It was about 5 m by 3 m, with an entrance directly across from the entrance of structure 14.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1011"},{"f":"10 12 and 30 with interior dimensions of","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"6.5","u":"m","o":"It rests between structures 10, 12, and 30, with interior dimensions of 6.5 m by 4.5 m metres.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1012"},{"f":"with interior dimensions of 6 5 m by","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"4.5","u":"m","o":"It rests between structures 10, 12, and 30, with interior dimensions of 6.5 m by 4.5 m metres.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1013"},{"f":"REF44 REF45 The original structure measured around","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"12","u":"m","o":"REF44 REF45 The original structure measured around 12 m by 8.5 m.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1014"},{"f":"construction the northern end was shortened by about","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"2","u":"m","o":"However, not long after construction, the northern end was shortened by about 2 m.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1015"},{"f":"but was originally a sub-rectangular building measuring around","a":"length","v":"16","u":"m","o":"Structure 20 was covered by the construction of structure 10 in around 2900 BC, but was originally a sub-rectangular building measuring around 16 m long.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1016"},{"f":"The exposed sides of the building measure","a":"length","v":"16","u":"metres","o":"The exposed sides of the building measure 16 metres long and can get up to 7.5 m wide.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1017"},{"f":"16 metres long and can get up to","a":"width","v":"7.5","u":"m","o":"The exposed sides of the building measure 16 metres long and can get up to 7.5 m wide.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1018"},{"f":"of the trench making the structure 5 over","a":"length","v":"20","u":"m","o":"A geophysical survey of the area suggests that there are 4.5 m of building buried past the southwestern edge of the trench, making the structure 5 over 20 m long.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1019"},{"f":"being 7 5 m wide and more than","a":"length","v":"14","u":"m","o":"Originally, structure 5 was much smaller, being 7.5 m wide and more than 14 m long.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1020"},{"f":"It was about","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"17","u":"m","o":"It was about 17 m by 11 m, with an interior measuring about 11 m by 7.5 m.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1021"},{"f":"It was about 17 m by","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"11","u":"m","o":"It was about 17 m by 11 m, with an interior measuring about 11 m by 7.5 m.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1022"},{"f":"with an interior measuring about 11 m by","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"7.5","u":"m","o":"It was about 17 m by 11 m, with an interior measuring about 11 m by 7.5 m.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1023"},{"f":"Fragments of wood and one","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"60","u":"cm","o":"Fragments of wood and one 60 cm plank were found preserved in clay, and likely served as supports for the roof.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1024"},{"f":"Six slabs approximately","a":"length","v":"4.5","u":"m","o":"Six slabs, approximately 4.5 m long and 15 cm thick, were incorporated into the structure's interior walls creating another unique structural effect.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1025"},{"f":"Six slabs approximately 4 5 m long and","a":"thickness","v":"15","u":"cm","o":"Six slabs, approximately 4.5 m long and 15 cm thick, were incorporated into the structure's interior walls creating another unique structural effect.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1026"},{"f":"Great Wall of Brodgar that may have been","a":"length","v":"100","u":"m","o":"There are the remains of a large stone wall (the \"Great Wall of Brodgar\") that may have been 100 m long and 6 m or more wide.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1027"},{"f":"that may have been 100 m long and","a":"width","v":"6","u":"m","o":"There are the remains of a large stone wall (the \"Great Wall of Brodgar\") that may have been 100 m long and 6 m or more wide.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1028"},{"f":"Neolithic building similar to Structure 2 and roughly","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"15","u":"metres","o":"REF76 Investigation of the findspot uncovered a Neolithic building similar to Structure 2 and roughly 15 metres by 20 metres with two internal recesses.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1029"},{"f":"to Structure 2 and roughly 15 metres by","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"20","u":"metres","o":"REF76 Investigation of the findspot uncovered a Neolithic building similar to Structure 2 and roughly 15 metres by 20 metres with two internal recesses.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1030"},{"f":"About","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"0.3","u":"metres","o":"About 0.3 metres of the double-faced stone walls remained.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1031"},{"f":"The mound was determined to be about","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"250","u":"metres","o":"The mound was determined to be about 250 metres by 100 metres (NW–SE) and over 4 metres high.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1032"},{"f":"was determined to be about 250 metres by","a":"plan dimension (pair)","v":"100","u":"metres","o":"The mound was determined to be about 250 metres by 100 metres (NW–SE) and over 4 metres high.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1033"},{"f":"metres by 100 metres NW SE and over","a":"height","v":"4","u":"metres","o":"The mound was determined to be about 250 metres by 100 metres (NW–SE) and over 4 metres high.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1366626130 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M1034"}],"lab":[{"k":"Materials","mat":"site material (as stated in article)","m":"documentary mention (Wikipedia, auto-extracted)","v":"Excavation resulted in the discovery of many items, including animal bones, polished quartz, and stone spatulate tools.","by":"no inline ref in article","b":"S","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130"},{"k":"Materials","mat":"site material (as stated in article)","m":"documentary mention (Wikipedia, auto-extracted)","v":"An axehead made of gneiss and a polished igneous stone were found beneath the floor of structure 14, and a carinated bowl shard was found among midden deposits and structural remains dating back to around 3300 BC, before structure 14 was built.","by":"no inline ref in article","b":"S","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130"}],"eng":[],"ori":[],"gaps":[],"dat":[],"aa":[],"ac":[],"me":[],"ci":[],"cq":[],"sd":[],"sub":[],"site":{"age":"Activity at the site can be dated to around 3500–3400 BC.","dm":"[see dating_excerpt; method not extracted]","lab":"NO: inference only (style/context/king list/textual)","weak":"no direct lab result on the structure in our records; date from stylistic, contextual or textual inference","unesco":"","dens":"CENSUS"},"co":{"lat":"58.99722222","lon":"-3.21555556","src":"Wikidata P625 only + curated wave0 value agrees","agree":"agree","b":"V","note":"two independent sources agree; max delta 0.0001 deg (~0.01 km)","osm":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/774938854"},"src":[{"id":"S0353","t":"no inline ref in article","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ness_of_Brodgar&oldid=1366626130"},{"id":"S0557","t":"Wikipedia: Ness of Brodgar","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ness_of_Brodgar"},{"id":"S2619","t":"Ness of Brodgar excavation (UHI Archaeology Institute)","u":"https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/"},{"id":"S2620","t":"UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Heart of Neolithic Orkney","u":"https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/514"},{"id":"VBRI-008-5","t":"Setting boundaries - The Ness of Brodgar Project","u":"https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/about/the-walls-of-brodgar/"},{"id":"VBRI-008-6","t":"The significance of cattle at the Ness Neolithic complex - The Ness of Brodgar Project","u":"https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/neolithic-cattle/"},{"id":"VBRI-008-7","t":"The Ness of Brodgar - The Ness of Brodgar Project","u":"https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/about-the-ness/"},{"id":null,"t":"Ness of Brodgar Project, “The discovery.”","u":"https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/the-discovery/"},{"id":null,"t":"Ness of Brodgar Project, “The rise and fall of the Ness complex” (citing Bayliss et al. 2017, Antiquity 91).","u":"https://www.nessofbrodgar.co.uk/about/rise-and-fall/"}],"sum":"In 2003 a plough on a strip of farmland in Orkney turned up a large stone with a notch cut into it. Archaeologists came out, worried that it might mark a Bronze Age burial about to be destroyed. They dug a small rescue trench. Instead of a grave they found the corner of a great stone building, five thousand years old, and beyond it, over the next twenty years, an entire lost complex that would change how we think about the Stone Age in Britain.\n\nThe place is the Ness of Brodgar, a narrow neck of land on the West Mainland of Orkney, the islands off the north coast of Scotland. Its name comes from Old Norse and means, roughly, the headland of the bridge farm. It divides two lochs, Harray and Stenness, and it lies in the middle of one of the most remarkable prehistoric landscapes anywhere. Within half a mile to the north-west stands the Ring of Brodgar, a great circle of standing stones. To the south-east are the Stones of Stenness and the Neolithic village of Barnhouse. The tomb of Maeshowe is a short walk away. UNESCO, which lists these as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, calls them among the most important Neolithic sites in Western Europe. For generations everyone walked past the low, whale-backed mound at the end of the Ness, assuming it was natural. It was not.\n\nA geophysical survey begun in 2002, using instruments that read faint magnetic and electrical traces of buried walls and hearths, had already picked up a dense cluster of features across about 2.5 hectares. The plough confirmed it. Excavation ran from 2004 until fieldwork closed in August 2024, and what emerged was not a village but something grander: large, carefully built stone buildings with paved floors, painted walls and roofs of stone slates, set within boundary walls and rebuilt again and again over about a thousand years.\n\nThe earliest activity dates to at least the 35th century BC: burnt bone found with a pot beneath one building gave a radiocarbon date of 3512 to 3425 BC. The earliest excavated building, Structure Five, was raised around 3300 BC, about when people began to live at Skara Brae and Barnhouse. Around 3200 BC a new kind of building appeared, divided by stone piers into bays, and within a century these gave way to larger ones still. The excavators describe a place in \"a centuries-long state of flux,\" never truly finished.\n\nFor part of its life the complex was closed off by walls running right across the isthmus. The northern one, nicknamed the Great Wall of Brodgar, was about 4 metres thick, widening to around 6 metres at its entrance. For comparison, Hadrian's Wall, built by the Roman army more than three thousand years later, was planned at 3 metres and cut back to 2.4. Brodgar's wall had a core of huge boulders between two faces. The outer face, the one seen by anyone approaching, was built of carefully chosen large sandstone blocks; the inner face was rough. The excavators doubt it was ever for defence, since no attacker armed with stone tools required anything so massive. They read it as a statement, in their words, \"This is our place.\" Two flights of steps on its inner side suggest people climbed onto it, perhaps to stand and be seen. Built around 3300 BC, it was largely taken down within about a century.\n\nThen, around 2900 BC, came the most ambitious building of all. Structure Ten was raised on top of older ones, a monumental hall with a tiny chamber at its heart. Where crowds may once have gathered, the excavators suggest, this was meant for a select few. At about the same time Barnhouse was abandoned and a similar great building rose there. Structure Ten partly collapsed around 2800 BC and was rebuilt less skilfully. The other buildings were abandoned around 2700 BC. Ten was finally stripped and buried under rubble and refuse.\n\nAnd then the cattle came. More than 175,000 fragments of animal bone have been recovered from the site, and 85 per cent of them are cattle, although sheep were more common elsewhere in Orkney. These were big, long-horned animals, about 1.3 to 1.5 metres at the shoulder, close in size to modern beef breeds. Around 2400 BC, a century or so after Structure Ten fell out of use, at least 400 of them were slaughtered and eaten at the Ness. Their skulls and split shin bones were laid carefully around the edge of the old building, which had become a great cairn. Then the passage around it was covered over. Four hundred cattle is meat for many thousands of meals. Whoever organised it could command herds, labour and loyalty on a scale few would credit to Stone Age islanders.\n\nWhy did it end? A 2017 study of radiocarbon and luminescence dates, led by Alex Bayliss, links the change to unrest across Orkney from about 2900 BC. Rival groups, in this view, competed to outdo each other with ever larger monuments, claiming prestige through their ancestors, until the strain became too great; after that, the area around Stenness and Brodgar \"ceased to serve as a significant place of human dwelling.\" It is a very human story of power and display. The great feast has two readings. It may have commemorated the long history of Structure Ten. Or, since the building was later robbed of its stone, it may have been tied as much to new projects as to remembrance. The excavators also ask whether it marked the arrival of new people and ideas at the start of the Bronze Age. Was it an ending, or a beginning? The bones alone cannot say.\n\nWhat the Ness has already shown is that the far north was not a backwater. The excavators read it as a ceremonial centre, perhaps the heart of Neolithic Orkney, a place from which ideas spread south rather than arriving from it. Customs and styles that would later appear across Britain may have taken shape here first.\n\nMuch remains unknown. The dig never reached the first buildings, so no one knows when they went up, or whether the earliest were of timber. How tall the Great Wall stood is uncertain, though its width and deep foundations suggest real height. What happened inside the halls from day to day is still a mystery. Long after the feast, someone placed a Beaker pot sherd and an arrowhead in Ten's covered passage, but otherwise the site was avoided for well over a thousand years, until around 700 BC, as if people knew it was a place to leave alone.\n\nFor a thousand years a farming people on the edge of the Atlantic built, painted, walled, rebuilt and finally buried a complex of halls between two great stone circles, and then gathered to eat four hundred cattle over its grave. What were they marking, and what had they known here that made the place worth closing with such ceremony?","qs":["Was the far north the centre all along?","At least 400 cattle were eaten at one closing feast. What kind of society organises that?","Why build a wall 4 m wide if not for defence?"],"gal":[{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Ness_of_Brodgar_19_-_6.7.16.jpg/1280px-Ness_of_Brodgar_19_-_6.7.16.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ness_of_Brodgar_19_-_6.7.16.jpg","title":"Ness of Brodgar 19 - 6.7.16.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0","by":"S Marshall","cap":"Ness of Brodgar dig 6.7.16, looking almost due south along the west wall of structure #1. Gives a good view of the quality of the stonework, and the flagstone f"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Dig_at_the_Ness_of_Brodgar_in_August_2018_d.jpg/1280px-Dig_at_the_Ness_of_Brodgar_in_August_2018_d.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dig_at_the_Ness_of_Brodgar_in_August_2018_d.jpg","title":"Dig at the Ness of Brodgar in August 2018 d.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0","by":"Gaius Cornelius","cap":"Excavations at the Ness of Brodgar in August 2018. Trench T. The Ness of Brodgar is an archaeological site in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, Scotland. The site ","alt":"Excavations at the Ness of Brodgar in August 2018. Trench T. The Ness of Brodgar is an archaeological site in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, Scotland. The site"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Ness_of_Brodgar%2C_Structure_Ten.jpg/1280px-Ness_of_Brodgar%2C_Structure_Ten.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ness_of_Brodgar,_Structure_Ten.jpg","title":"Ness of Brodgar, Structure Ten.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0","by":"Kenny Arne Lang Antonsen","cap":"Ness of Brodgar, Structure Ten."},{"src":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Ness_of_Brodgar_-_structure_1.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ness_of_Brodgar_-_structure_1.png","title":"Ness of Brodgar - structure 1.png","lic":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0","by":"S Marshall","cap":"Plan of the Ness of Brodgar with structure #1 highlighted."},{"src":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Ness_of_Brodgar_-_structure_10.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ness_of_Brodgar_-_structure_10.png","title":"Ness of Brodgar - structure 10.png","lic":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0","by":"S Marshall","cap":"Plan of the Ness of Brodgar with structure #10 highlighted."}]},"img":null,"md":null,"hh":[{"v":"3300 BC","h":"Largest non-funerary building known in Early Neolithic Orkney","s":[107]},{"v":"3500 BC","h":"Activity at the site can be dated to around 3500–3400 BC","s":[107]},{"v":"Clay, quartz","h":"Made of","s":[107]}],"hs":{"107":["Wikipedia: Ness of Brodgar (and sources cited there)","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ness_of_Brodgar"]},"lh":{"s":"img/h/BRI-008.webp","w":1280,"h":960,"o":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Ness_of_Brodgar_19_-_6.7.16.jpg/1280px-Ness_of_Brodgar_19_-_6.7.16.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail"}}