You seem to be using an older version of Internet Explorer. This site requires Internet Explorer 8 or higher. Update your browser here today to fully enjoy all the marvels of this site.
April 26, 2018 by Alexander Meldrum
Skara Brae
Skara Brae /'skær? 'bre?/ is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland.
Con...Skara Brae
Skara Brae /'skær? 'bre?/ is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland.
Consisting of eight clustered houses, it was occupied from roughly 3180 BC to about 2500 BC. Europe's most complete Neolithic village, Skara Brae gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status as one of four sites making up "
The Heart of Neolithic Orkney".a Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids, it has been called the "Scottish Pompeii" because of its excellent preservation.
Discovery and early exploration
In the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll known as "Skerrabra". When the storm cleared,
local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the local laird, began an amateur excavation of the site,
but after four houses were uncovered, the work was abandoned in 1868. The site remained undisturbed until 1913, when during a single weekend the site was plundered by a party with shovels who took away an unknown quantity of artefacts.
In 1924, another storm swept away part of one of the houses and it was determined the site should be made secure and more seriously investigated.
The job was given to University of Edinburgh's Professor V. Gordon Childe who travelled to Skara Brae for the first time in mid-1927.
Neolithic lifestyle
Skara Brae's people were makers and users of grooved ware, a distinctive style of pottery that appeared in northern Scotland not long before the establishment of the village.
The houses used earth sheltering, being sunk into the ground. They were sunk into mounds of pre-existing prehistoric domestic waste known as middens.
The midden provided the houses with a stability and also acted as insulation against Orkney's harsh winter climate. On average,
each house measures 40 square metres (430 sq ft) in size with a large square room containing a stone hearth used for heating and cooking.
Given the number of homes, it seems likely that no more than fifty people lived in Skara Brae at any given time.
Excavated dwellings at Skara Brae
It is by no means clear what material the inhabitants burned in their hearths. Gordon Childe was sure that the fuel was peat, but a detailed analysis of vegetation patterns and trends suggests that climatic conditions
conducive to the development of thick beds of peat did not develop in this part of Orkney until after Skara Brae was abandoned.
Other possible fuels include driftwood and animal dung. There is evidence that dried seaweed may have been used significantly.
At some sites in Orkney, investigators have found a glassy, slag-like material called "kelp" or "cramp" that may be residual burnt seaweed.
The dwellings contain a number of stone-built pieces of furniture, including cupboards, dressers, seats, and storage boxes.
Each dwelling was entered through a low doorway that had a stone slab door that could be closed "by a bar that slid in bar-holes cut in the stone door jambs".
A sophisticated drainage system was incorporated into the village's design. It included a primitive form of toilet in each dwelling.
The Grooved Ware People who built Skara Brae were primarily pastoralists who raised cattle and sheep. Childe originally believed that the inhabitants did not practice agriculture,
but excavations in 1972 unearthed seed grains from a midden suggesting that barley was cultivated. Fish bones and shells are common in the middens indicating that dwellers ate seafood.
Limpet shells are common and may have been fish-bait that was kept in stone boxes in the homes. The boxes were formed from thin slabs with joints carefully sealed with clay to render them waterproof.
Artifacts
Symbols found at Skara Brae and other Neolithic sites
A number of enigmatic carved stone balls have been found at the site and some are on display in the museum. Similar objects have been found throughout northern Scotland.
The spiral ornamentation on some of these "balls" has been stylistically linked to objects found in the Boyne Valley in Ireland. Similar symbols have been found carved into stone lintels and bed posts.
These symbols, sometimes referred to as "runic writings", have been subjected to controversial translations.
For example, Castleden suggested that "colons" found punctuating vertical and diagonal symbols may represent separations between words.
Lumps of red ochre found here and at other Neolithic sites have been interpreted as evidence that body painting may have been practised.
Nodules of haematite with highly polished surfaces have been found as well; the shiny surfaces suggest that the nodules were used to finish leather.
Other artefacts excavated on site made of animal, fish, bird, and whalebone, whale and walrus ivory, and killer whale teeth included awls, needles, knives, beads, adzes, shovels, small bowls and, most remarkably,
ivory pins up to 25 centimetres (9.8 in) long.These pins are very similar to examples found in passage graves in the Boyne Valley, another piece of evidence suggesting a linkage between the two cultures.
So-called Skaill knives were commonly used tools in Skara Brae; these consist of large flakes knocked off sandstone cobbles.Skaill knives have been found throughout Orkney and Shetland.
The 1972 excavations reached layers that had remained waterlogged and had preserved items that otherwise would have been destroyed.
These include a twisted skein of Heather, one of a very few known examples of Neolithic rope, and a wooden handle.
Related sites in Orkney
A comparable, though smaller, site exists at Rinyo on Rousay. Unusually, no Maeshowe-type tombs have been found on Rousay and although there are a large number of Orkney–Cromarty chambered cairns,
these were built by Unstan ware people.
Knap of Howar, on the Orkney island of Papa Westray, is a well-preserved Neolithic farmstead. Dating from 3500 BC to 3100 BC, it is similar in design to Skara Brae, but from an earlier period,
and it is thought to be the oldest preserved standing building in northern Europe.
There is also a site currently under excavation at Links of Noltland on Westray that appears to have similarities to Skara Brae.
World Heritage status
The Heart of Neolithic Orkney" was inscribed as a World Heritage site in December 1999. In addition to Skara Brae the site includes Maeshowe, the Ring of Brodgar, the Standing Stones of Stenness and other nearby sites.
It is managed by Historic Scotland, whose "Statement of Significance" for the site begins:
The monuments at the heart of Neolithic Orkney and Skara Brae proclaim the triumphs of the human spirit in early ages and isolated places.
They were approximately contemporary with the mastabas of the archaic period of Egypt (first and second dynasties), the brick temples of Sumeria, and the first cities of the Harappa culture in India,
and a century or two earlier than the Golden Age of China. Unusually fine for their early date, and with a remarkably rich survival of evidence,
these sites stand as a visible symbol of the achievements of early peoples away from the traditional centres of civilisation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this photo:
