The excavations at the Ness of Brodgar are in the running for two titles in the national 2024 Current Archaeology Awards – one of the few times in the awards’ history that a single project has received two nominations in the same year.

Excavation director Nick Card is up for the title of Archaeologist of the Year, while the investigation of the Stenness Neolithic complex has been nominated for Research Project of the Year – a title it took back in 2011.

The awards are decided by the public, with voting going live on Friday, December 1, at www.archaeology.co.uk/vote. The polls close on February 5, with the winners announced at the Current Archaeology Live! conference on February 24.

Commenting on the announcement, Mr Card said:

“To be nominated for two awards is a great accolade to all the hard work that the Ness team has put into the project over the years – a fitting celebration to mark the end of two decades of excavation.”

2024 marks a major milestone in the history of the multi-award-winning project, which is managed by the Ness of Brodgar Trust in partnership with the UHI Archaeology Institute.

The final season of fieldwork will conclude in August 2024, after which the archaeology will be covered over to preserve it for future generations. But although digging will end, the project continues and will move into the vital post-excavation research phase.

Discovered in 2003, the Orkney archaeological site has gone on to attract thousands of visitors each summer season.

The excavation has uncovered a complex of monumental Neolithic buildings, dating from around 3300BC to 2400BC, and flanked by a pair of massive stone walls.

The size, quality, and architecture of the structures, together with evidence for tiled roofs, coloured walls, decorated stone and stunning artefacts have seen the Ness hit headlines across the world regularly over the past two decades.

Click on this link to read more about the Ness of Brodgar’s  grant application to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) 

See also: Stunning Stonework: Ness of Brodgar 2023