Nick Card, Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology, presents a short lecture on “‘Changing Perceptions: recent research and excavation in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney WHS” at the Archaeological Research in Progress (ARP 2011) national day conference on Saturday 28th May 2011 at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Recent research and excavation in the environs of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site is changing our perceptions of the late Neolithic landscape and context of these iconic upstanding monuments. Geophysical survey in conjunction with excavation is revealing a large interconnected ‘ritual’ landscape. In particular the discovery of the Neolithic complex on the Ness of Brodgar is radicalizing our views. Ongoing excavations are showing that this large whale-back ridge (250 metres by 100 metres) is mainly artificial and comprises of a deeply stratified sequence of middens, structures and midden enhanced soils. Throughout its later major phases the site was dominated by a series of large stone buildings. It is not only the scale, symmetrical architecture and complexity of these structures that suggest they lie out with the normal domestic sphere but also numerous idiosyncrasies such as evidence for regular stone tiled roofs, an extensive assemblage of Neolithic art including the use of paint, and the massive walled enclosure (circa 125 metres by 75 metres) in which they sit that sets them apart. These discoveries may even question the apparent dominance of the World Heritage Sites in the Neolithic. This was a landscape not only populated by people but by monuments.