Ring of Brodgar, Neolithic stone circle in Orkney Islands, Scotland

The Ring of Brodgar is a stone circle measuring about 104 meters across, surrounded by a deep rock-cut ditch between two lochs. Of the original 60 standing stones, 27 remain upright in their original positions today.

The ring was probably raised between 2500 and 2000 BCE, the last of the great Neolithic monuments on the Ness. Its ditch, up to 3 m deep and 9 m wide, was cut into solid sandstone bedrock in sections, possibly by workforces from different parts of Orkney, with the stones added later. The first formal survey was made in 1849 by Royal Navy Captain Frederick Thomas of HM cutter Woodlark, published in 1852 as The Celtic Antiquities of Orkney.

The name Brodgar probably comes from Old Norse, and the site appears in Orkney folklore as the meeting place of the Norse earls. The Ring of Brodgar Excavation 2008 found no secure dating evidence, so the circle's age remains uncertain. Visitors can look for the Comet Stone, a single standing stone to the south-east of the ring.

The ring stands on a narrow isthmus between the Loch of Stenness and the Loch of Harray, reached by minor roads from Stenness and Stromness. The ground is uneven grass with no hard path around the stones, and the ditch edge drops sharply, so watch your footing. There is little shelter; wind and rain arrive quickly off the lochs.

Excavations nearby uncovered a massive stone wall about 100 meters long and 6 meters high, revealing that large building structures once stood here. This discovery changed our understanding of how complex Neolithic life actually was.