The finest example of Neolithic art from the Ness of Brodgar to date

A carved stone uncovered on the Ness of Brodgar today has been hailed as the finest example of Neolithic art recovered from the Stenness excavation site – if not in the UK.

The stone, which is decorated on both sides, was discovered at the base of the later south-west internal corner buttresses in Structure Ten – the Neolithic “cathedral”.

Although designs of interconnecting triangles can be loosely paralleled on a slab discovered at Skara Brae in the 1970s, a lightly inscribed stone in Maeshowe discovered by Patrick Ashmore in the 1980s and some Irish art, this, say the excavators, is a much finer, and more complex, piece of art.