Europe, British Isles, Scotland, Orkney Islands, Orkney, Ness of Brodgar, Ring of Brodgar [Map]
Ring of Brodgar is in Ness of Brodgar, Henge, Orkney Stone Circles, Orkney Henges.
The Ring of Brodgar [Map] is a Henge with a Stone Circle of an unknown prehistoric date.
Carbon Date. 325BC. Middle Iron Age Carbon Dates
Report: Organic mud from N trench - above SRR-502 at Ring of Brogar [Map], Orkney, Scotland.
ID: 4506, C14 ID: SRR-503 Date BP: 2325 +/- 45, Start Date BP: 2280, End BP: 2370
OS Letter: HY, OS East: 295, OS North: 134
Archaeologist Name: C Renfrew
Reference Name: C Renfrew, 'Investigations in Orkney' (Res Rep Soc Antiq London, 38), 1979, 71; C Renfrew, 'The prehistory of Orkney' (1985)
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
Carbon Date. 205BC. Middle Iron Age Carbon Dates
Report: Organic mud from N trench - basal deposit at Ring of Brogar [Map], Orkney, Scotland.
ID: 4507, C14 ID: SRR-502 Date BP: 2205 +/- 60, Start Date BP: 2145, End BP: 2265
OS Letter: HY, OS East: 295, OS North: 134
Archaeologist Name: C Renfrew
Reference Name: C Renfrew, 'Investigations in Orkney' (Res Rep Soc Antiq London, 38), 1979, 71; C Renfrew, 'The prehistory of Orkney' (1985)
Council for British Archaeology (2012) Archaeological Site Index to Radiocarbon Dates from Great Britain and Ireland [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor] https://doi.org/10.5284/1017767
Archaeologia Volume 34 1851 XIII Orkney Chapter III. Plate XIII. Ring of Brodgar [Map], Stenness, Orkney.
Archaeologia Volume 34 1851 XIII Orkney Chapter II. Dimensions of the Ring of Brogar [Map]. FEET.
Diameter of circle on which the pillars are placed... 340
Distance of pillars from edge of fosse or trench.. 13-2
Diameter to inner edge of fosse..... 366 • 4
Breadth of fosse....... 29
Diameter to outer edge of fosse.....424-4
Depth of fosse—average..... 6 • 0
Distance of pillars apart—average breadth of causeways... 17 • 8
Highest pillar......13-9
Lowest ditto......5-9
Average height.......9-0
Broadest pillar, stump only remaining....7* 3
Least breadth.......1- 6
Average ditto.......5- 0
Average thickness.......1- 0
Archaeologia Volume 34 1851 XIII Orkney Chapter II. But the most considerable of all the antiquities of this district, is the great circle of Stenness, or Ring of Brogar [Map].a. This is a deeply-entrenched circular space, with a diameter of 366 feet, and containing two acres and a half of superficies. No peculiarity is observable in the topographical character of this place. The area is neither level nor smooth, for the natural undulations of the ground traverse the inclosure. Around the circumference of the area, but about thirteen feet within the trench, are single, large, erect stones or pillars, standing at an average distance of eighteen feet apart. These stones appear to be the largest blocks that could be raised in the quarry from whence they were taken, and are without dressing of any kind; hence, their figure is not uniform, and they vary considerably in size; the highest stone was found to be 139 feet above the surface, and, judging from some others that have fallen, it is sunk about eighteen inches into the ground. The smallest stone is less than six, but the average height is eight or ten feet. The breadth varies from 26 to 7'9 feet, but the average is about four feet, and the thickness one foot. No order can be traced in the relative size or figure of the remaining stones; small and large succeed each other indiscriminately. To mineralogists they are known as the flagstones of the old red sandstone formation, and are supposed to have once been mud, which has been aggregated into sub-crystalline forms by molecular forces.
Note a. See the General Plan, and Plate XIII. for an enlarged Plan and Elevation.
