Lead by archaeologist Nick Card, a team opened eight
exploratory trenches in the first season. It was soon confirmed the
unremarkable rounded ridge was entirely artificial and finds near the surface
indicated the structures could tentatively be dated to the late Neolithic
period, or around 2300 BC. Neolithic buildings of this shape and size were
unknown prior to this and what had been an inconsequential hillock on a little
spit of land had become the United Kingdom's historical discovery of the
decade!
Since then, excavations at the Ness of Brodgar have occurred
each summer season and it's been described by many who have worked here as the
archaeologist's dream site. Its clean walls, copious finds and limited later
construction on the hill's surface means the remains are providing more
information about this period than any other excavation has before. Only around
10-15% of the site has been cleared thus far and already it's overwhelmed even
the most cynical historian.
For the first four years, speculation continued to rage
about its purpose. Nothing had been found like this in Britain and
internationally, the only relatable sites were two in Malta. Although the Ness
site was originally ventured to be a settlement, what ancient settlement
required outer walls to be more than two metres thick? No one had ever seen
rectangular Neolithic houses with multiple, erraticallysized entrances. The
evidence didn't fit with a settlement. So, perhaps it was a temple? However,
Neolithic-period temples are so rare in Europe, this loaded term would only be
committed to with indisputable evidence. This mystery was enticing and aroused
the imagination of everyone who laid eyes on the excavation.
Piece by piece, season by season, the earth was scraped
back. Constructed of skilfully stacked flat slate pieces, individual buildings
rose between pathways, odd hearths appeared in doorways, the strange and
enormous enclosure wall seemed to force passage through the precinct and
hundreds of artefacts emerged, all dating to before the Bronze Age. Patterned
and even painted stones were uncovered, testifying in its heyday, the
structures would have been colourful and eye-catching. The finds included both
whale ivory and stone mace heads (symbols of status), a small fired-clay figure
now called `The Brodgar Boy', slabs of rock engraved with geometric patterns
and an ingeniously carved stone ball.
Most importantly, there was a telling lack of domestic
flints, pottery and household waste which usually accompanied settlement. There
was no other explanation, it had to be ceremonial.
Archaeologists can now conclude that on the Ness of Brodgar
is one of the rarest of rare Neolithic temple complexes. And, just as amazing,
is that while the Salisbury Plain henges and ceremonial pathways bear a
striking resemblance to these monuments, they are several centuries younger.
The discovery of the Ness complex, its purpose and significance had literally
turned British prehistory on its head. Evidence suggests the temple had
functioned for a thousand years. It had endured multiple rebuilds by the local
farming communities who dedicated their sacred space to the seasons and
landscape from which the were entirely governed. They worshipped pagan gods and
ancestors by performing cleansing and passage ceremonies and most likely
progressed from building to building as part of this ritual, leaving hundreds
of sacred objects behind for their deities.
Then, approximately 600 years after the complex was first
built, the massive Ring of Brodgar was constructed to the north and the
temple's internal buildings were replaced with a single, large structure (25 x
25 metres/82 x 82 feet). Archaeologists have conjectured that for the next
three centuries, the single building and Ring to the north became the final
destination on a sacred pilgrimage from life to death.
Finally, the Ness of Brodgar temple, already ancient by its
own standards, went out of use in around 2300 BC. Evidence points to the locals
heralding the end of the temple's era with a momentous party that could have
lasted days and hosted masses of people. This is known because just beside the
enclosure wall was a pile of bones of approximately six-hundred cattle, all
carbon dated to the same time of approximately 2300 BC. Six-hundred cattle can
feed ten-thousand people and cut and burn marks indicate they feasted well.
After the cattle slaughter, no further evidence remains to
support further use and either by the natural progression of time, or even by
the partiers themselves, the walls were pulled down and the foundations buried.
A new era of technology had begun - the Bronze Age - forever changing religious
practices and beliefs and the old temple was sent extravagantly back into the
earth where it lay in secret for 4000 years until a geophysicist and his modern
machine stumbled across it.
