Monday, July 23

Hi there!

I am Clare Cross and am also a student at Orkney College. I came up to get a Post Graduate qualification to help me when I go out into the real world and get a job. I am looking forward to the prospect of gainful employment and shrugging off my ‘student bum’ persona!

Although at the same time I will miss all the wonderful people I have met while being up here in Orkney. I am just trying to make the most of the time I have left and get the most out of the excavation. 

Okay, so this is Ness of Brodgar – start of week two!

I’ll deal with the weather first as it is at the forefront of everyone’s minds! I was a little disappointed this morning to see a bit of low lying cloud and drizzle outside my window, after what I consider reasonable weather for last week.

It is also very calm with no wind at all – very unnerving for Orkney! I would be happier with a bit of a breeze; it would help keep me alert, as I am still a little tired after the hard graft of last week. I hope the weather gods will be kind and spare us a little sunshine later in the week! 

We had a site tour this morning and got the low down on what is considered to be present and how we will go about excavating.

I am looking forward to getting a little patch I can really concentrate on and get my teeth into, as the size of Trench P is a little daunting.

There were also trench photographs taken and the start of some planning in Trench J.

This really feels more like the start of the nitty-gritty of archaeology and I am glad to see that there are some die-hard Foaties on site with us. I think community involvement and education is very important to the support and survival of a profession such as archaeology and it is wonderful there is an organisation such as FOAT getting involved.

This has also been seen with the many tour buses that pass us and their waves are appreciated for a morale boost! 

I don’t consider myself enamoured with prehistoric archaeology, due to its ephemeral nature, but the structures we are revealing here at Ness of Brodgar are so extraordinary in terms of Neolithic archaeology of Britain that I feel privileged to be here and excited by what we are finding.