Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

The Great Circle Between 2500 and 2000 BC a large and exact circle of standing stones was
constructed on this gently sloping piece of land. With its rock-cut ditch and many standing
stones, Brodgar represents a huge feat of social as well as physical engineering. It was the last
built of the three great monuments at the heart of Orkney. The Stones of Stenness a mile away
had been set up some time before and peoples bodies were already being laid to rest at Maes
Howe. The Ring of Brodgar stands in a landscape rich with archaeology. Among these are four
massive mounds thought to have been built between 2500 BC and 1500 BC .
The Builders of Brodgar

Elsewhere in Britain there are other great ditched enclosures with two entrance causeways
opposite each other. They seem to have been built about the same time Beakers with inscised or
impressed decoration and burial in individual graves were becoming popular - the old practise of
putting bones into communal tombs was disappearing. It is belived that most of these changes in
British society took place under the influence of new ideas rather than invasions. Particularly in
Orkney, it appears to be certain that the builders of Brodgar were the inheritors of who built
Stenness , disposed of the bodies of their dead in Maes Howe and lived in settlements like Skara
Brae.

The Plan and the Building

Although the ring now lies close to the brackish waters of the Loch of Stenness and the
freshwater Loch of Harray, the sea level was lower when it was built. The edge of the Loch of
Stenness may have been further away than it is today. A huge circle 104 metres wide was laid
out and about 60 tall stones were erected on it. The outer ditch cut round it was on a circle about
130 metres across . The ditch is now about 10 metres wide , but its edges have weathered back
since it was built, its original width was 5 to 6 metres and it was 3 metres deep.
The great ditch would have taken approx 10,000 man days to construct and if as many as 100
people were directly involved that part of the work could have been completed in one summer.
The stones themselves would have taken approx 1000 days to put up and probably much more to
quarry and bring to the site, even if some of the trip was by water.

Only 27 of the original stones survive.

Brogar in Use

Only small scale excavations have taken place here and there is no direct evidence for its use. It
is believed ancient ceremonies involving the whole community took place. It has been suggested
it was used for observations of the moon, but while we need not doubt that the people who built
it were interested in lunar events , the evidence so far obtained has failed to convince many
archaeologists and astromoners.
A short distance to the east of the Brodgar ring is the solitary standing stone known as the Comet
Stone.