Paper short abstract:

This paper presents a photographic biography of the Brodgar Stone, a carved Neolithic slab found in 1924 at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney. It then extends the discussion to include the wider assemblage from the site to explore the role that photography plays in constructing archaeological narratives.

Paper long abstract:

In 1924 an elaborately carved stone was found by a farmer in a field in Stenness, Orkney, and photographed by a local landowner. Now in the National Museum of Scotland, the stone has been re-photographed several times since, each subsequent image representing a subtle variation on the original photograph of the stone. They also conform to the same visual tropes which have existed since the first archaeological photography in relation to depth of field, lighting and composition. Each of these engender different ways of seeing and of representation, with often unexplored interpretive implications.

We now know that this stone came from the Ness of Brodgar, an extraordinary complex of Neolithic buildings which have been the focus of excavations by ORCA for the past 10 years. Over 600 decorated stones have now been recovered from the site, many of which remain in situ in the buildings. This assemblage is the focus of my current research, which involves cataloguing and photographing each stone, both in situ and in a studio if removed from site.

This paper presents a biography of the Brodgar Stone as image and artefact, then extends the discussion to include the contemporary experience of photographing the wider assemblage from the site. The narrative runs from the 1920s to the Neolithic, to the present day, and explores the role that historical and contemporary photography play in constructing archaeological narratives both today, and in the past.