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Digging a neolithic mystery on Orkney (ad-free) (Patreon)

Published:
2026-08-18 05:10:02
Imported:
2026-08
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Time Team members have been able to follow every twist and turn of our Ness of Brodgar dig, but the wider public are itching for more information about what we've been getting up to. Martyn Williams is on site in Orkney where the mysterious geophysics 'blobs' are being investigated. He's giving our YouTube audience a peak behind the curtain of what's going on. You'll hear from Sir Tony Robinson who's visiting the site and has fallen in love with the landscape and its remarkable neolithic history.

There are also conversations with Time Team's John Gater and Jackie McKinley who are battling the wet and windy conditions in the Northern Isles.

Martyn also learns more about the local neolithic landscape by speaking to historian and writer Sigurd Towrie.

Next week we'll be returning to normal. Helen will be back and there's some very exciting information to bring to your attention.

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Comments

Alan McMillan

Good to see nothing really changes! Archaeology rocks!

Jane

Wonderful! Thanks for showing us the surrounding sites.

Brigitte Shepherd

Wonderful video- connected it altogether. Thank you.

Peter Venus

I love the idea of competitive monument building. Sort of keeping up with the Kar-Stonians.

Michael Sperry

Another marvelous podcast! I'm wondering, though. I thought that the main Ness of Brodgar dig had been completed, and back-filled in. But in this video we see some very nice-looking bits where you can still see some of the structures, all with grassy roofs. Did they leave part of the excavation open, or were those from a different location?

Larry Besel, Jr.

Martyn is an outstanding addition to Time Team’s village of Professionals!

Rebecca Clark

Another great episode, thank you.Your enthusiasm is infectious Martyn. Thanks to all the Ness team for sharing their expertise and time.Fascinating to hear the stones were likely put up at different times. Could they maybe represent a particular clan or group that brought them perhaps, in a " We were here kind of way"? Loved the mini tour as well. Orkney is definitely on the to visit list.

Elaine P

Really enjoyed this, and so helpful to see the overall survey of the sites to see the dig in context. The pottery cataloguing from the 20-year dig is mind-blowing.

Bunny1

This information about the stone circles being put up one piece at a time, from quarries all over is very interesting! It makes sense if you consider what Dr Lynne Kelly has written about the ways societies without writing pass down tons of information. She's studied oral cultures worldwide and found they use the other arts to make information highly memorable --such as story, dance, music, etc --and they also associate the curriculum with different places and features of the landscape. This helps you remember the information. The ancient Greeks did this as well with the method of loci. She says these kind of monumental structures are built when a society is in the process of becoming more sedentary and they no longer travel to all the places associated with their curriculum of stories, songs etc. So you quarry a stone from that area and that becomes the stand in for that area, so you can associate that piece of the curriculum with that stone instead of having to travel to the area to perform the song/story. In Australia they use Songlines which are paths through the landscape to different special features, so at this special tree you perform this song, and at the big boulder you perform the next song, etc. This way you don't miss one. And if you need to remember it later you can mentally walk down the path and be reminded of all the songs. The songs might contain, say, important information about the tribe's history or information that might be important in future disasters or weather events, or maybe the name and attributes of all the insects plants and animals. A lot to remember. Anyway I can imagine as the elders added to and updated their curriculum, they'd need a new stone here or there... Or perhaps as the community no longer went to x or y place, you'd need a stone from those places. Or, some of the information associated with some of the older stones maybe no longer was relevant! Also a stone on its side is perhaps just as useful for remembering with as one standing up? Who knows but clearly there's a logic to how the stone circles are used beyond just having one for the sake of it

Bunny1

Also it makes sense that quarrying and bringing the stone would really bring a community together doesn't it? Dr Kelly also writes about how oral societies are not the same as being illiterate in a society with writing. It's just as rich a tradition, but it's all passed down experientially instead of on paper or parchment...

Kristin Hartnett

Mind blown! Stone rings not built all at once!? Love you guys Long Live Time Team!

Luke T Jacobs

This is the most fascinating conversation about the why and how and what for theories of stone circles I've heard! I'll have to read on Dr Kelly and the songs of Australia!!!

Bunny1

I highly recommend her book! The layman's version is called The Memory Code. I think the scholarly work is called Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies or something like that by Cambridge University Press. I haven't gotten my hands on the scholarly version but the layman's one is fascinating enough!

Bunny1

Agreed! I'm really enjoying the podcast

Stephanie Neva

Excellent video, such a vast amount of info, I learned so much. Thank you all!!

Greg Edmand

I would love to see an interview between several of the Neolithic potters and the team members who are cleaning and carefully cataloguing the tiny shards of pottery. The makers would be astonished by the many days, weeks and months of attention examining a pot they made in a couple of hours.