Excavators and TV crews back on the Ness

The excavations on the Ness of Brodgar resume today, Monday, running for six weeks until August 23.

As usual, the dig will have a distinctly international feel, with another group of students from Willamette University, in Oregon, USA, led by Professor Scott Pike.

In addition, Professor Mimi Bueno, of the University of Madrid, Spain, will be looking at some of the painted surfaces uncovered on the Ness, comparing them to similar finds in the prehistoric tombs of Iberia and Brittany.

Site director Nick Card added: “This season, among other visitors, we’ll also have Dr Cathy Batt, from the University of Bradford, returning to take samples, for archaeomagnetic dating, from the various hearths across the site.

“The main objective this year is sampling and analysing the floor deposits, and, as well as Scott bringing his portable XRF (X-ray fluorescence spectrometer) machine and carrying out more chemical analysis of the floor deposits on site to clarify how these buildings may have been used, Dr Lisa Shiletto, of Edinburgh University, will be making thin-section analysis of the floors.”

Although the dig resumes today, the public tours will only begin on Wednesday.

• During this season’s excavations, TV crews from two different documentaries will be focusing on the prehistoric complex.

  For Channel Four, a Time Team special, featuring Tony Robinson and archaeologist Francis Pryor, is looking at prehistoric religion and belief, particularly coastal and island cultures.

  Meanwhile, Neil Oliver is returning to the site for a new BBC 2 series — Sacred Wonders of Britain — looking at how belief helped shape the British isles from the Paleolithic through to the Reformation.