madkins
Registered
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The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light.
Vladimir Nabokov
The Ring o' Brodgar, Stenness
"The Ring of Brodgar is the finest known truly circular late Neolithic or early Bronze Age stone ring and a later expression of the spirit which gave rise to Maeshowe, Stenness and Skara Brae."
Nomination of The Heart of Neolithic Orkney for inclusion in the World Heritage List
If one Orcadian site has come to represent the islands' ancient heritage it must surely be the stone circle known as the Ring o' Brodgar.
The stone circle is found in the Mainlan
parish of Stenness, standing on an eastward sloping plateau on the Ness o' Brodgar - a thin strip of land between the Harray and Stenness lochs.
Thought to have been constructed between 2500 BC
r
and 2000 BC, the Ring o' Brodgar was the last of the great monuments built o
n the Ness.
The stone ring was built in a true circle 104 metres wide and originally contained 60 megaliths. Today, only 27 of these stones remain - jutting starkly out of the gentle Orcadian landscape (see Fig 1).
In contrast to the giant megaliths that make up the Standing Stones o' Stenness, the stones in the Ring o' Brodgar are much smaller and vary in height from 2.1 metres (7 feet) to a maximum of 4.7 metres (15ft 3in)..
Early accounts
The ring is first mentioned in the early sixteenth century in an account of Orkney written by the enigmatic author Jo Ben. His Descriptio Insularum Orchadiarum is the oldest surviving account of the Orkney Islands since they were transferred to Scotland in
1468. The author's exact identity is unknown although it has been suggested that Jo Ben was a priest, a visiting superior or travelling monk, who resided in Orkney around 1529.
Regarding
the
Ring o' Brodgar, Jo Ben wrote:
"[In Stenness] beside the lake are stones high and broad, in hei
ght equal to a spear, and in an equal circle of half a mile.
In 1792, the ring contained 18 standing stones, with eight lying prone. By 1815 another account showed that two more stones had been toppled leaving only 16 erect. Then, in 1854, in what was the first detailed account of the stone circle, there was a mere 13 erect stones, ten complete but fallen stones and fragments of 13 more.
The ring was taken into state care in 1906 and two years later most of the fallen stones were placed back in their original sockets. Since then at least two stones have suffered lightning strikes, leaving 27 standing today.
Heart of Neolithic Orkney
The ring is set in the area now consi
dered the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney" and any visitor to the ring will immediately recognise why the Ness o' Brodgar was considered the ideal place to construct such a great cer
emonial
monument.
The stone circle is practically in the centre of a massive natural "cauldron" formed by the hills of the surrounding landscap
e. The site is therefore bordered by hill, water and sky.
The exact age of the Ring o' Brodgar is uncertain as the interior of the circle has never been fully excavated and scientifically dated.
It is also probable that the Ring o' Brodgar was part of an enormous prehistoric circle complex that incorporated the Stones o' Stenness, approximately one mile to the south-east, and the Ring o' Bookan to the north-west.
Henge monument
Like the Standing Stones o' Stenness, the Ring o' Brodgar belongs to a distinct class of monument known as a henge.
Surrounded by a massive ditch, it has two ceremonial entrance caus
eways, one to the north-west and the other to the south-east.
With a diameter of 103.6 metres (340 ft), the Brodgar ring is the third largest stone circle in the British Isles.
Cov
ering an area of 8,435 square metres (90,790 square feet), Brodgar is beaten only by the outer ring of stones at Avebury and the Greater Ring at Stanton Drew in England. Incidentally, the Brodg
ar ring is exactly the same size as Avebury's two inner rings.
The Ring o' Brodgar stands in a landscape rich with archaeology. Among these are four massive mounds thought to have been built between 2500 BC and 1500 BC. Click here for more details. A short distance to the east of the Brodgar ring is the solitary standing stone known as the Comet Stone.
A sacred site?
But although the Ness o' Brodgar is covered in archaeological anomalies, it would appear that the stone circle was significantly different to the ancient Orcadians.
Geophysics scans carried out in 2002 clearly showed a lot of a
ctivity around the Standing Stones of Stenness, the Brig o' Brodgar and house of Lochview right up to Brodgar Farm.
At this point, however, from a landscape rife with a
nomalies, there
comes an almost clinically defined point where activity ceases. From this it would appear that the land around the Ring o' Brodgar was deliberately maintained as a definite "non domestic" area - a space set apart
from "everyday" life and perhaps connected with the ritual or religious practices centred on the stone circle. For more on this, click here.
The Dyke o' Sean
Further scans in 2003 showed that just as building to the south of the Ring o' Brodgar stopped abruptly some distance from the stone circle, the situation to the north was identical. Here, the boundary seemed to be marked by an earthen bank that runs across the Ness. Known as the Dyke o' Sean, the exact age of this feature has never been determined.
But in light of the new geophysics data, which shows
a correlation between the earthwork and the cessation of building, it seems possible that the Dyke o' Sean is contemporary with the Brodgar ring, perhaps marking an
outer boundary on
the northern edge of the Brodgar henge complex.
This lack of archaeology around the ring seems to indicate that there was a distinct cut off-point ' an invisible boundary the area's inhabitants did not want to cross. Does this mark the start of a s
ymbolic shift in the perception of the landscape? Or is there a more mundane reason ' a field or territorial boundary perhaps?
The Ring o' Brodgar takes its name from the nearby farm. Brodgar derives from the Old Norse BrogarÃԚ Ô�šÃ”š°r, meaning Bridge Farm. The 'bridge' in this case refers to the narrow causeway that separates the two lochs. Orkney's Neolithic heartland in Stenness - the area surrounding the Ring o' Brodgar - was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1999. In common with Maeshowe, a short distance away, sometime in the 12t
h-century a Norse visitor carved his name on one of the circle's stones. The stone in question (the third stone to the north of the present day entrance) is
now a broken stump but
the runic graffiti is still clearly visible. During New New Year celebrations of yesteryear, lovers would visit Brodgar where the man would fall to his knees and "pray to the god Wodden" that the couple keep the oaths they were about to swear. They then made their
way to the Odin Stone where the oath ceremony took place.
Skara Brae,
madkins
The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light.
Vladimir Nabokov
The Ring o' Brodgar, Stenness
"The Ring of Brodgar is the finest known truly circular late Neolithic or early Bronze Age stone ring and a later expression of the spirit which gave rise to Maeshowe, Stenness and Skara Brae."
Nomination of The Heart of Neolithic Orkney for inclusion in the World Heritage List
If one Orcadian site has come to represent the islands' ancient heritage it must surely be the stone circle known as the Ring o' Brodgar.
The stone circle is found in the Mainlan
parish of Stenness, standing on an eastward sloping plateau on the Ness o' Brodgar - a thin strip of land between the Harray and Stenness lochs.
Thought to have been constructed between 2500 BC
r
and 2000 BC, the Ring o' Brodgar was the last of the great monuments built o
n the Ness.
The stone ring was built in a true circle 104 metres wide and originally contained 60 megaliths. Today, only 27 of these stones remain - jutting starkly out of the gentle Orcadian landscape (see Fig 1).
In contrast to the giant megaliths that make up the Standing Stones o' Stenness, the stones in the Ring o' Brodgar are much smaller and vary in height from 2.1 metres (7 feet) to a maximum of 4.7 metres (15ft 3in)..
Early accounts
The ring is first mentioned in the early sixteenth century in an account of Orkney written by the enigmatic author Jo Ben. His Descriptio Insularum Orchadiarum is the oldest surviving account of the Orkney Islands since they were transferred to Scotland in
1468. The author's exact identity is unknown although it has been suggested that Jo Ben was a priest, a visiting superior or travelling monk, who resided in Orkney around 1529.
Regarding
the
Ring o' Brodgar, Jo Ben wrote:
"[In Stenness] beside the lake are stones high and broad, in hei
ght equal to a spear, and in an equal circle of half a mile.
In 1792, the ring contained 18 standing stones, with eight lying prone. By 1815 another account showed that two more stones had been toppled leaving only 16 erect. Then, in 1854, in what was the first detailed account of the stone circle, there was a mere 13 erect stones, ten complete but fallen stones and fragments of 13 more.
The ring was taken into state care in 1906 and two years later most of the fallen stones were placed back in their original sockets. Since then at least two stones have suffered lightning strikes, leaving 27 standing today.
Heart of Neolithic Orkney
The ring is set in the area now consi
dered the "Heart of Neolithic Orkney" and any visitor to the ring will immediately recognise why the Ness o' Brodgar was considered the ideal place to construct such a great cer
emonial
monument.
The stone circle is practically in the centre of a massive natural "cauldron" formed by the hills of the surrounding landscap
e. The site is therefore bordered by hill, water and sky.
The exact age of the Ring o' Brodgar is uncertain as the interior of the circle has never been fully excavated and scientifically dated.
It is also probable that the Ring o' Brodgar was part of an enormous prehistoric circle complex that incorporated the Stones o' Stenness, approximately one mile to the south-east, and the Ring o' Bookan to the north-west.
Henge monument
Like the Standing Stones o' Stenness, the Ring o' Brodgar belongs to a distinct class of monument known as a henge.
Surrounded by a massive ditch, it has two ceremonial entrance caus
eways, one to the north-west and the other to the south-east.
With a diameter of 103.6 metres (340 ft), the Brodgar ring is the third largest stone circle in the British Isles.
Cov
ering an area of 8,435 square metres (90,790 square feet), Brodgar is beaten only by the outer ring of stones at Avebury and the Greater Ring at Stanton Drew in England. Incidentally, the Brodg
ar ring is exactly the same size as Avebury's two inner rings.
The Ring o' Brodgar stands in a landscape rich with archaeology. Among these are four massive mounds thought to have been built between 2500 BC and 1500 BC. Click here for more details. A short distance to the east of the Brodgar ring is the solitary standing stone known as the Comet Stone.
A sacred site?
But although the Ness o' Brodgar is covered in archaeological anomalies, it would appear that the stone circle was significantly different to the ancient Orcadians.
Geophysics scans carried out in 2002 clearly showed a lot of a
ctivity around the Standing Stones of Stenness, the Brig o' Brodgar and house of Lochview right up to Brodgar Farm.
At this point, however, from a landscape rife with a
nomalies, there
comes an almost clinically defined point where activity ceases. From this it would appear that the land around the Ring o' Brodgar was deliberately maintained as a definite "non domestic" area - a space set apart
from "everyday" life and perhaps connected with the ritual or religious practices centred on the stone circle. For more on this, click here.
The Dyke o' Sean
Further scans in 2003 showed that just as building to the south of the Ring o' Brodgar stopped abruptly some distance from the stone circle, the situation to the north was identical. Here, the boundary seemed to be marked by an earthen bank that runs across the Ness. Known as the Dyke o' Sean, the exact age of this feature has never been determined.
But in light of the new geophysics data, which shows
a correlation between the earthwork and the cessation of building, it seems possible that the Dyke o' Sean is contemporary with the Brodgar ring, perhaps marking an
outer boundary on
the northern edge of the Brodgar henge complex.
This lack of archaeology around the ring seems to indicate that there was a distinct cut off-point ' an invisible boundary the area's inhabitants did not want to cross. Does this mark the start of a s
ymbolic shift in the perception of the landscape? Or is there a more mundane reason ' a field or territorial boundary perhaps?
The Ring o' Brodgar takes its name from the nearby farm. Brodgar derives from the Old Norse BrogarÃԚ Ô�šÃ”š°r, meaning Bridge Farm. The 'bridge' in this case refers to the narrow causeway that separates the two lochs. Orkney's Neolithic heartland in Stenness - the area surrounding the Ring o' Brodgar - was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1999. In common with Maeshowe, a short distance away, sometime in the 12t
h-century a Norse visitor carved his name on one of the circle's stones. The stone in question (the third stone to the north of the present day entrance) is
now a broken stump but
the runic graffiti is still clearly visible. During New New Year celebrations of yesteryear, lovers would visit Brodgar where the man would fall to his knees and "pray to the god Wodden" that the couple keep the oaths they were about to swear. They then made their
way to the Odin Stone where the oath ceremony took place.
Skara Brae,
madkins
