Skara Brae
In 1850 a great storm pounded the shore of the Bay of Skaill, on Orkney Mainland, leaving
the buildings of a Neolithic settlement sticking up through the sand dunes which had covered
them. Systematic excavations of the site have been carried out since 1927.
Skara Brae's occupants were farmers who bred cows and sheep and grew cereals, but who
also hunted red deer and fished. They were skilled craftsmen, working bone and stone, and
making pottery; many of the tools, weapons and vessels were richly decorated.
Originally the site was set back from the shore: coastal erosion now threatens Skara Brae.
The village was planned as a cluster of sub-rectangular huts, with interconnecting passages.
Their walls were made of sandstone slabs; corbelled walling probably formed the roofs. On
the other hand, whale jawbones discovered on the floor of one hut were perhaps originally
rafters supporting a thatched roof.
All the houses had a similar interior design: against the wall facing the door was the dresser
(a couple of flagstone shelves supported on stone 'legs'). This may have been the display case
for the family's prized possession, carefully positioned to impress visitors. In the centre of
each hut was a rectangular hearth; along each side wall was a bed, constructed of three slabs
set upright to form a 'box', the house wall forming the fourth side. Above the beds were
recesses, and a common feature of the hut interiors is a 'limpet box': a slab-built tank made
watertight by clay caulking.
Excavation evidence seems to indicate that the village's occupants left in a hurry, perhaps
fleeing storm similar to the one which uncovered the site.