Archaeologists have harnessed the power of YouTube to bring daily reports from the latest dig at Banks Tomb in South Ronaldsay.

Join the Orkney Research Centre for Archaeology (ORCA) team, headed by Dan Lee as they battle against time to save human remains and artefacts from a recently discovered Neolithic tomb at Banks in Orkney.

Under the stone

When Orcadians go gardening, they are just as likely to unearth some of Orkney’s rich heritage, as dig up a bucket of spuds.

This is exactly what happened to Hamish Mowatt, in September, when he investigated what lay beneath a large stone slab in the garden. When he finally managed to get a camera into the small space, he found the eye sockets of a human skull staring back at him.

The archaeologists were called in and confirmed that he had discovered a 5000 year old burial chamber. The chamber has started filling with water and the team now face a race against time and the Orkney elements to document and rescue artefacts.

A video diary of the excavation can be viewed online, allowing the public a rare daily insight into the uncovering of this ancient tomb.

More information

Banks Tomb Excavation video Diary

Orkneyjar – Neolithic tomb unearthed in South Ronaldsay GardenSimilar Posts:

• Neolithic Bodies in Orkney Garden
• Ness of Brodgar Neolithic figurine
• Stenness reveals new archaeology
• Standing stones of Stenness
• Neolithic life not so peaceful

The Orkney Heritage Society are making 2010 the Year O Orkney Dialect. They aim to raise awareness of the rich heritage reflected in the dialect and encourage its use in everyday life.

History of Orkney Dialect
The Orkneyjar website has some excellent information on old Orkney dialect and explains that;

“For almost 950 years – from approximately 800AD until the middle of the 1700s – the spoken language in Orkney was a variant of Old Norse known as Norrœna or Norn.
Remnants of this now extinct language can still be clearly heard in today’s Orcadian dialect – a dialect shot through with Norse words and turns of speech”.

Orkney Dialect Competition
Whit like? 2010 is noo officially the Year o Orkney Dialect!  As part o this, wur runnan a poetry competition, details o which you kin fiind on this website.

If you are interested in aalso runnan sometheen as part o the Year o Orkney Dialect, then please get in touch, as a calander of events is being compiled.

Quite a bit of local interest has already been shown in this project, with Stromness Primary School creating a word waal where the children can see and learn to use dialect words in everyday speech.

If you have an interest in the old dialect words of Orkney (and Shetland), then the free downloadable ebook above will be of interest to you.

If you’re a bit more academically minded, then why not give the “Orkney Dialect for Beginners” evening class a go!

More information

Orkney Heritage Society
Year O Orkney Dialect on Facebook
Orkneyjar - Find out lots more information about the Orkney Dialect
Scots Language Centre - The network for Scots languageSimilar Posts:

• Tracing Your Orkney Ancestry
• What’s on 2010
• Blast is Champion Beer
• Groundskeeper Willie – Heritage trail
• Orkney Botanist Exhibition at Stromness Museum