Investigating the Great Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

Downes, Jane; Richards, Colin; Brown, J. G.; Cresswell, A.J.; Ellen, Roy; Davies, Alex; Hall, Allan; McCulloch, Robert; Sanderson, David; Simpson, Ian A.

doi:10.2307/j.ctv13gvfvx.9

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…What, if anything, could have occurred locally at the Ness of Brodgar in the phase of reduced or absent activity before the final events connected to Structure 10? Is it coincidence that one estimate, claimed as ‘reasonable’, for the date of the digging of the Ring of Brodgar ditch is 2600–2400 cal bc , based on very imprecise OSL dating (to which we will return critically in a subsequent synthesis) (Downes et al, 2013: 113)? Was the Ness now mainly a place of memories, closed off (as it were) by a great new sacred ring close by?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Did it need predecessors, and a previous history which it could trump? Or did it come out of conditions of competition among the users of the other buildings, be they purely local householders or, say, kin groupings, or representatives of wider communities from further afield across Orkney (see Card, 2012; Downes et al, 2013: 116)?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The stone circle was another innovation, as manifest in the Stones of Stenness, probably constructed by the thirtieth century cal bc (Ritchie, 1976; Griffiths & Richards, 2013), and even more spectacularly by the Ring of Brodgar, possibly (but far from certainly) erected in the middle part of the third millennium cal bc (Downes et al, 2013). Whether this was an invention of people living in Orkney (Sheridan, 2004, 2012) or the outcome of wider social connections (Griffiths & Richards, 2013: 286) remains open to debate.…”

Section: Questions For Late Neolithic Orkneymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

To Cut a Long Story Short: Formal Chronological Modelling for the Late Neolithic Site of Ness of Brodgar, Orkney

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In the context of unanswered questions about the nature and development of the Late Neolithic in Orkney, a summary is given of research up to 2015 on the major site at the Ness of Brodgar, Mainland, concentrating on the impressive buildings. Finding sufficient samples for radiocarbon dating was a considerable challenge. There are indications from both features and finds of activity predating the main set of buildings exposed so far by excavation. Forty-six dates on 39 samples are presented and are interpreted in a formal chronological framework. Two models are presented, reflecting different possible readings of the sequence. Both indicate that piered architecture was in use by the 30th century cal BC and that the massive Structure 10, not the first building in the sequence, was also in existence by the 30th century cal BC. Activity associated with piered architecture came to an end (in Model 2) c. 2800 cal BC. Midden and rubble infill followed. After an appreciable interval, the hearth at the centre of Structure 10 was last used c. 2500 cal BC, perhaps the only activity in an otherwise abandoned site. The remains of some 400 or more cattle were deposited over the ruins of Structure 10: in Model 2, in the mid-25th century cal BC, but in Model 1 in the late 24th or 23rd century cal BC. The chronologies invite comparison with the near- Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporationneighbour of Barnhouse, in use from the later 32nd to the earlier 29th century cal BC, and the Stones of Stenness, probably constructed by the 30th century cal BC. The Ness, including Structure 10, appears to have outlasted Barnhouse, but probably did not endure in its primary form for as long as previously envisaged. The decay and decommissioning of the Ness might coincide with the further development of the sacred landscape around it; but precise chronologies for both the Ring of Brodgar and Maeshowe are urgently required. The spectacular feasting remains deposited above Structure 10 may belong to a radically changing world, coinciding (in Model 2) with the appearance of Beakers nationally, but it was arguably the by now mythic status of that building which drew people back to it. (Richards, 2013; Richards & Jones, 2016). The idea of chambered cairns persisted into this period, but now, in contrast to earlier styles of simple-chambered and stalled cairns, these probably principally took the form of the passage grave, of 'Maeshowe' type (Henshall, 1972), seen in the construction of monuments such as Quanterness, Quoyness and Maeshowe itself (Renfrew, 1979; Davidson & Henshall, 1989;Schulting et al., 2010;Griffiths & Richards, 2013; MacSween et al., 2015;Griffiths, 2016). Their elaborate architecture, with marked separation of the interior from the exterior, controlled access via passages, and gradation among internal chambers, may have derived from or been part of active connections with the apogee of the passage tomb tradition in eastern Ireland (Sheridan, 2004;Schulting et al., 2010;Hen...

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Questions For Late Neolithic Orkneymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

To Cut a Long Story Short: Formal Chronological Modelling for the Late Neolithic Site of Ness of Brodgar, Orkney

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A different reading also presents itself for instances of precisely the opposite, where conspicuously large megaliths are encountered which sit in extremely shallow stoneholes (Downes et al . , 103–4; Smith , pl. XLb).…”

Section: Sweating the Small Stuffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Betylmania? – Small Standing Stones and the Megaliths ofSouth‐WestBritain

Gillings

2015

Oxford J Archaeology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SUMMARYThis paper calls attention to a previously neglected element of the broad repertoire of monumental megalithic structures that characterise the later 3 rd and 2 nd millennia BC across the British Isles -extremely small standing stones. Despite their frequency and the complex arrangements and associations they embody, these miniliths are rarely recorded in detail and frequently marginalised to a generic background. As a result they are largely absent from interpretative accounts. Drawing upon recent debates regarding materiality and monument form, alongside the results of excavations explicitly targeting tiny stone settings, the discussion argues that the phenomenon of raising and fixing small uprights was not only widespread and persistent, but sheds important light upon the beliefs and ideas driving monument construction during the later Neolithic and Bronze Ages.

show abstract

“…239-274); Somerville (1912) on the stone circles of Callanish, and Spence (1894, p. 123) and Lockyer (1906, p. 132) and Spence (1906) on Stenness. However, (compared to the number in existence) there has usually been a concentration on relatively few encircling monuments within a single project, especially in more recent years (Bradley 2005;Downes et al 2013;Richards 1996aRichards , 2013a. Naturally, this is sometimes due to the methodological approach chosen-detailed excavations of single sites, like those at Stenness on Orkney (Ritchie 1976) and Callanish on the Isle of Lewis (Ashmore 2016), are essential for the understanding of site use, construction, lifeways, palaeoenvironmental information and site chronology.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The World Ends Here, the World Begins Here: Bronze Age Megalithic Monuments in Western Scotland

Higginbottom

2020

J World Prehist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper presents a study of free-standing Bronze Age megalithic monuments across western Scotland: Argyll, Lochaber, Kintyre, and the isles of Mull, Coll and Tiree. The original project was designed to unearth the locational choices of their builders, the reasons for these choices, and what they reveal about the belief systems of these societies. Using statistical analyses and 2D and 3D GIS, it will be demonstrated that vision is the main force behind locational decisions. The GIS analyses revealed that the builders chose a particular horizon shape, defined by qualities of distance, direction and relative apparent height as viewed from the monument (altitude). Significantly, approximately half the sites have the same locational variables as all the sites considered on the isles of Coll and Tiree (labelled 'classic sites':

show abstract

Investigating the Great Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

To Cut a Long Story Short: Formal Chronological Modelling for the Late Neolithic Site of Ness of Brodgar, Orkney

To Cut a Long Story Short: Formal Chronological Modelling for the Late Neolithic Site of Ness of Brodgar, Orkney

Betylmania? – Small Standing Stones and the Megaliths ofSouth‐WestBritain

The World Ends Here, the World Begins Here: Bronze Age Megalithic Monuments in Western Scotland

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About