Magnetic prospection wasinstrumentalin the discovery of a multiphase Neolithic settlement at Crossiecrown on Mainland Orkney. Subsequent excavation revealed a number of structures, including a large circular walled house of Late Neolithic date with a range of well-defined architectural features in its interior.This paper presents the discovery, excavation and in particular the functional analysis of this house. Soil micromorphology established the sequence from the house's initial floor construction to its abandonment.On the basis of multi-element and magnetic susceptibility data obtained from analysis of samples taken from the floor of the house, several element distributions were found to be distinctive in the way they correlated with some of the house's'fixed furniture'and moreover with the distributions of certain artefacts, notably the stone tools. The archaeological implications of these findings are discussed.

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Excavation at the chambered cairn of Bookan, Sandwick, Orkney, in June 2002 revealed that the cairn excavated by James Farrer in 1861, and later described and planned by George Petrie and Henry Dryden, was only the primary phase in the history of the site. After the site had fallen into disrepair or been deliberately slighted, the original cairn, c. 7m in diameter, was incorporated in a stepped cairn or platform, c. 16m in diameter, bounded by three concentric revetments. The role of Bookan as the type-site for a variety of early style of chambered cairn is reconsidered, along with the `monumentalization' of the site in an Orcadian context. Separately authored contributions include