Carved ball found at the Ness of Brodgar dig

Day Eighteen... We have found a carved stone ball!
 

4/5. A closer view of the stone ball.

There you have it. We have ransacked our store of superlatives, but the extraordinary nature of this find has left us with just those plain, simple, but momentous words.

Here they are again. We have found a carved stone ball!
And the importance of this?

Well, hardly anyone has ever found a carved stone ball in a modern archaeological context.

The vast majority have been found, by chance, as dislocated finds across Britain, but with an apparent concentration in north-east Scotland. One was found last year at the Links of Noltland, on Westray, but we are unaware of its context.

And that is the really exciting part of this discovery.

The ball was found in a secure context, under the north-east buttress of Structure Ten, opposite the magnificent incised stone found last week, which was also under a buttress.

We certainly don’t want to leap ahead with interpretation, but it is beginning to look as if these special deposits, under buttresses, might constitute something like foundation deposits for the entire building.

The ball is heavy and initial impressions suggest that it may be basalt — a very hard and uniform stone — which works well, with a great deal of time and patience.

The stone is, of course, still coated with midden so its exact nature is still to be determined. We can, however, determine that it has six knobs, but not apparently even spaced. There may be extra decoration incised into its surface. It may even be coloured or painted.

Information on all this will only be clear when the very delicate job of cleaning it without disturbing any deposits is carried out. This will take place at a conservation laboratory in Edinburgh. [...] orkneyjar.com/