'Discovery of a lifetime': Stone Age temple found in Orkney

A temple?

Of course it's a temple.

Couldn't be anything else?

Nope, it's got to be a temple. The archeologists said so.

Alrighty then. A temple it is.

I watched the BBC "Ancient Britain" special on Orkney last Sunday. It's still available on iPlayer (for British-based GLPers anyway).

Obviously it's anachronistic to call the building a "temple". It was likely used for various different functions. Maybe call it a "major ritual site" or something like that.

What's really interesting is that here is a place in the far North of Europe which is way ahead of the rest of the continent in terms of architecture, farming, culture etc. In the documentary, they kept using the word "unique" for the things they were finding. They're sober-minded archaeologists but clearly very excited about this.

There's much more to find and not just on the land. A recent survey of the coast has revealed a mystery structure underwater near the Ring of Brodgar.

See [link to www.orkneyjar.com] for the excavation

3D panorama: [link to www.kenstuart.com]

Underwater structure: [link to www.orkneyjar.com]

Awesome, thanks for the info!

Outdoor market, seat of government, central gathering place for seasonal socialising?

Nah... always a temple.

or an observatory.

or ancient alien ruins

who cares what it was? its there, which means possible information.

High, thick walls, restricted entrances? Sounds like a prison to me. Maybe for slave labour forced to build the other monuments. All released as the project came to completion, hence a final big banquet and destruction of the complex ...