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'Skara Brae' (pronounced ) is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of mainland Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3100-2500BC. The level of preservation is such that it has gained UNESCO World Heritage Site status. ^[1] It is Europe's most complete Neolithic village.
In August 2007, the site was vandalised, and graffitied with the words "Scouse Celts" and "Brian Finlay slept here 13-8-2007". ^[2] The graffiti was successfully removed the following month. ^[3]

Contents

Discovery and Features of Skara Brae

Related sites in Orkney

World Heritage status

Contemporary culture

See also

References

External links

Discovery and Features of Skara Brae

Until 1850, Skara Brae lay under years of soil sediment. It was fully excavated between 1928 and 1930 by Vere Gordon Childe.
Skara Brae's inhabitants were apparently makers and users of Grooved Ware. The houses used earth sheltering but, being sunk into the ground, they were built into mounds of pre-existing domestic waste (rubbish) known as "middens". Although the midden provided the houses with a small degree of stability, its most important purpose was to act as a layer of insulation against Orkney's harsh winter climate. On average, the houses measure 40 square metres in size with a large square room containing a large hearth which would have been used for heating and cooking. As few trees grow on the island, the people of Skara Brae used driftwood and whalebone, with turf thatch, to roof their dwellings.
The dwellings contain a number of stone-built pieces of furniture, including cupboards, dressers, seats, and storage boxes. A sophisticated drainage system was even incorporated into the village's design, one that included a primitive form of toilet in each dwelling. Seven of the houses have similar furniture, with the beds and dresser in the same places in each house. The dresser stands against the wall opposite the door, and would have been the first thing anyone entering the dwelling would see. The eighth house has no storage boxes or dresser, but has been divided into something resembling small cubicles. When this house was excavated, fragments of stone, bone and antler were found. It is possible that this building was used as a workshop to make simple tools such as bone needles or Flint Axes.
The site provided the earliest known record of the human flea ''Pulex irritans'' in Europe.^[4]
Radiocarbon evidence indicates Skara Brae was occupied from about 3100 BC, for about six hundred years. Around 2500 BC, after the climate changed, turning much colder and wet, the settlement may have been abandoned by its inhabitants. There are many theories as to why the people of Skara Brae suddenly left, but there is no solid evidence suggesting why this occurred.

Related sites in Orkney

A comparable — if 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.^[5]

World Heritage status

‘The Heart of Neolithic Orkney’ was 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.^[6]

Contemporary culture

The children's novel ''The Boy with the Bronze Axe'' by Kathleen Fidler is set during the last days of Skara Brae.^[7]

See also

★ Ring of Brodgar

★ Maeshowe

★ World Heritage Sites in Scotland

References

1. It is one of four UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Scotland, the others being the Old Town and New Town of Edinburgh; New Lanark in South Lanarkshire; and St Kilda in the Western Isles.
2. "Vandals strike at ancient village". (August 16, 2007). ''The Scotsman''.
3. Skara Brae site graffiti removed (Saturday, 8 September, 2007) BBC News website
4. Buckland, Paul C. and Sadler, Jon P. ''Insects'' in Edwards, Kevin J. & Ralston, Ian B.M. (Eds) (2003) ''Scotland After the Ice Age: Environment, Archaeology and History, 8000 BC - AD 1000''. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press.
5. "The Knap o' Howar, Papay". Orkneyjar. Retrieved on 05 September 2007.
6. "The Heart of Neolithic Orkney". Historic Scotland. Retrieved on 05 September 2007.
7. Fidler, Kathleen (2005) ''The Boy with the Bronze Axe''. Edinburgh. Floris Books. ISBN 9780863154881

External links

★ Orkneyjar