The digs uncovered 40 structures making up a cluster of buildings which showed it was a significant settlement in prehistoric Orkney.
However, a further phase of work using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) was carried out this summer – producing three-dimensional images of the whole site for the first time.
The scientific study produced an unexpected discovery which the team describe as “totally dissimilar to anything else we’ve uncovered”.
The only clue from the excavation team is that Ness is “a site that can be seen to be defined by straight lines and rectangular forms, from the architecture down to the art”.
Archaeologist Nick Card – who worked on the digs from 2004 and will return for the latest work – told the BBC’s Radio Scotland Breakfast programme: “We think this is so unusual that it could add a new chapter to the history of the Ness.
“It’s at a bit of the site where there doesn’t seem to be any deep archaeology, so it’s not like we’re getting into another 20 years of excavations.
“The archaeology that will be uncovered will be quite different. Don’t expect three-dimensional Neolithic buildings. Possibly it is not Neolithic, I think probably later, but it could be contemporary.”
