Ness of Brodgar, Year 2!!

I'm back at the Hamnavoe Hostel in Stromness, Orkney, Scotland.

I arrived in Scotland on July 23 with my family and friend, then we toured around Scotland until the 20th when  I had to report to work.

Today was our second day on site and so far I have been digging in trench T, a new trench that was only opened up a few weeks ago. So far we have been finding rubble and worms,. but the geophysical survey of the area shows the sides of two fairly well-defined circular walls. Our site director and trench supervisors are hoping this is the top of a chambered tomb, possibly like Maes Howe, or Cuween  Cairn.  If this is the case, we would not open the chamber this season, but perhaps next year. I am impatient to see what it turns out to be. Easily my favorite archaeological sites have been the Neolithic chambered tombs here, even though I had to do the "inch-worm" on my side in order to get into some of the burial chambers. Now that's saying something, because that wasn't fun. It was tempting to just stay in the chamber once successfully within.

Later on this  trip I will be gathering samples of Galena and Hematite from various locations around the Orkneys, in an attempt to find the source of pigments used as paint on site.

Today I did get to use the XRF machine (X-ray fluorescence) to test the composition of a floor in Structure 10.


Also, I wrote the "View from the Trenches" part of the orkneyjar site today. Feel free to read that.

Until tomorrow! Or maybe the next day if nothing too exciting happens.