Skara Brae

Skara Brae, looking north

Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island of Orkney. It survives almost intact as the houses were built underground; a form of dwelling known as a souterrain. The stone-built houses are linked by stone passageways, and the whole village was roofed over.

The village consists of eight clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BC–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." Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids, the Skara Brae village has been called the "Scottish Pompeii" because of its excellent preservation.

• Location map: 59°2’55"N, 3°20’35"W

Nearby stands a more modern house, Skaill House, reckoned to be the finest mansion in Orkney, and which may be visited along with Skara Brae. The Neolithlic village was discovered by the laird of Skaill.

Discovery and early exploration

In the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Orkney causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths across the islands and the Highlands. 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 uncovering four houses 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 Professor Vere Gordon Childe of the University of Edinburgh's 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. In fact, they were sunk into mounds of pre-existing prehistoric domestic waste known as middens. The midden provided the houses with a small degree of stability and also acted as insulation against Orkney's harsh winter climate. On average, the houses measure 430.6 square feet (40.0 m²) 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's evidence that dried seaweed may have been used significantly. At a number of 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.

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 was the first thing seen by anyone entering the dwelling. Each of these houses had the larger bed on the right side of the doorway and the smaller on the left. Lloyd Laing noted that this pattern accorded with Hebridean custom up to the early 20th century suggesting that the husband's bed was the larger and the wife's was the smaller. The discovery of beads and paint-pots in some of the smaller beds may support this interpretation. (Central Asian yurt dwellings have an identical internal spatial gender assignment, central fire and storage chest opposite the entrance.) Additional support may come from the recognition that stone boxes lie to the left of most doorways, forcing the person entering the house to turn to the right-hand, 'male', side of the dwelling. At the front of each bed lie the stumps of stone pillars that may have supported a canopy of fur; another link with recent Hebridean style.

Evidence of home furnishings

One house, called House 8, has no storage boxes or dresser. It 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 house to make simple tools such as bone needles or flint axes. The presence of heat-damaged volcanic rocks and what appears to be a flue, support this interpretation. House 8 is distinctive in other ways as well. It is a stand-alone structure not surrounded by midden, instead it is above ground and has walls over six feet thick. It has a "porch" protecting the entrance.

The site provided the earliest known record of the human flea Pulex irritans in Europe.

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.

This pastoral lifestyle is in sharp contrast to some of the more exotic interpretations of the culture of the Skara Brae people, for example Euan MacKie's suggestion that Skara Brae housed a privileged theocratic class of wise men who engaged in astronomical and magical ceremonies at nearby Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness, about which Graham and Anna Ritchie noted that there is no archaeological evidence at all for such a claim.

View over the settlement

Dating and abandonment

Originally, Childe believed that the settlement dated from around 500 BC. This interpretation was coming under increasing challenge by the time new excavations in 1972–73 settled the question. Radiocarbon results obtained from samples collected during these excavations indicate that occupation of Skara Brae began about 3180 BC with occupation continuing for about six hundred years. Around 2500 BC, after the climate changed, becoming much colder and wetter, the settlement may have been abandoned by its inhabitants.

There are many theories as to why the people of Skara Brae left; particularly popular interpretations involve a major storm. Evan Hadingham combined evidence from found objects with the storm scenario to imagine a dramatic end to the settlement:

As was the case at Pompeii, the inhabitants seem to have been taken by surprise and fled in haste, for many of their prized possessions, such as necklaces made from animal teeth and bone, or pins of walrus ivory, were left behind. The remains of choice meat joints were discovered in some of the beds, presumably forming part of the villagers' last supper. One woman was in such haste that her necklace broke as she squeezed through the narrow doorway of her home, scattering a stream of beads along the passageway outside as she fled the encroaching sand.

Anna Ritchie strongly disagrees with catastrophic interpretations of the village's abandonment:

A popular myth would have the village abandoned during a massive storm that threatened to bury it in sand instantly, but the truth is that its burial was gradual and that it had already been abandoned — for what reason, no one can tell.

The site was farther from the sea than it is today, and it is possible that Skara Brae was built adjacent to a freshwater lagoon protected by dunes. Although the visible buildings give an impression of an organic whole, it is certain that an unknown quantity of additional structures had already been lost to sea erosion before the site's rediscovery and subsequent protection by a seawall. Uncovered remains are known to exist immediately adjacent to the ancient monument in areas presently covered by fields, and others, of uncertain date, can be seen eroding out of the cliff edge a little to the south of the enclosed area.

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 in the islands and across the Highlands.

Lumps of red ochre found here and at other Neolithic sites have been interpreted as evidence that body painting may have been practiced. 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 10.0 inches (25.4 cm) 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 Environment 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.

Contemporary culture

• Il tesoro di Skara Brae, a children's novel by Diletta Nicastro is the second episode of the series The World of Mauro & Lisi, a saga set in Skara Brae and other Neolithic sites in the area.
• The Boy with the Bronze Axe, a children's novel by Kathleen Fidler is set during the last days of Skara Brae.
• A History Of The Twentieth Century, With Illustrations, a 1991 novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson, the main character visits Skara Brae and other Orkney Island neolithic sites as part of a journey he takes to gain perspective on the violent history of the 20th century.
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, has Jones lecturing to his students about the site.

See also

• Ring of Brodgar
• Standing Stones of Stenness
• Maeshowe

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Skara Brae)

• "Historic Scotland: Skara Brae Prehistoric Village". http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/places/propertyresults/propertyoverview.htm?PropID=PL_244. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
• "Orkneyjar : Skara Brae : The discovery of the village". http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/index.html. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
• "Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland : Site Record for Skara Brae". http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/1663/details/skara+brae/. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 
• Skaill House, Bay of Skaill, home of excavator William Watt

References

Books

• Beck, Roger B.; Black, Linda; Krieger, Larry S.; Naylor, Phillip C.; Shabaka, Dahia Ibo (1999). World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell. ISBN 0-395-87274-X. 
• Bryson, Bill (2010). At home : a short history of private life. London; New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-60827-5. 
• Buckland, Paul C.; Sadler, Jon P. (2003). "Insects". in Edwards, Kevin J.; Ralston, Ian B.M.. Scotland After the Ice Age: Environment, Archaeology and History, 8000 BC - AD 1000. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-1736-1. 
• Burl, Aubrey (1976). The Stone Circles of the British Isles. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-01972-6. 
• Burl, Aubrey (1979). Prehistoric Avebury. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02368-5. 
• Castleden, Rodney (1987). The Stonehenge People. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd.. ISBN 0-7102-0968-1. 
• Childe, V. Gordon (1931). Skara Brae, a Pictish Village in Orkney. meeting held in London: monograph of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. 
• Childe, V. Gordon; Simpson, W. Douglas (1952). Illustrated History of Ancient Monuments: Vol. VI Scotland. Edinburgh: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 
• Childe, V. Gordon; Clarke, D. V. (1983). Skara Brae. Edinburgh: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 0-11-491755-8. 
• Clarke, D.V.; Sharples, Niall (1985). Settlements and Subsistence in the Third Millennium BC, in: Renfrew, Colin (Ed.) The Prehistory of Orkney BC 4000-1000 AD. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-85224-456-8. 
• Darvill, Timothy (1987). Prehistoric Britain. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-03951-4. 
• Fenton, Alexander (1978). Northern Isles: Orkney and Shetland. John Donald Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-85976-019-7. 
• Fidler, Kathleen (2005). The Boy with the Bronze Axe. Edinburgh: Floris Books. ISBN 978-0-86315-488-1. 
• Hadingham, Evan (1975). Circles and Standing Stones: An Illustrated Exploration of the Megalith Mysteries of Early Britain. New York: Walker and Company. ISBN 0-8027-0463-8. 
• Hawkes, Jacquetta (1986). The Shell Guide to British Archaeology. London: Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-2448-0. 
• Hedges, John W. (1984). Tomb of the Eagles: Death and Life in a Stone Age Tribe. New York: New Amsterdam. ISBN 0-941533-05-0. 
• Keatinge, T.H.; Dickson, J.H. (1979). "Mid Flandrian Changes in Vegetation in Mainland Orkney". New Phytol 82 (2): 585–612. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.1979.tb02684.x. 
• Laing, Lloyd (1974). Orkney and Shetland: An Archaeological Guide. Newton Abbott: David and Charles Ltd.. ISBN 0-7153-6305-0. 
• Laing, Lloyd & Jennifer (1982). The Origins of Britain. London: Paladin. ISBN 0-586-08370-7. 
• MacKie, Euan (1977). Science and Society in Prehistoric Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-312-70245-0. 
• Nicastro, Diletta (2007). Il tesoro di Skara Brae. Milano: Passepartout Edizioni. ISBN 88-901759-7-4. 
• Piggott, Stuart (1954). Neolithic Cultures of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07781-8. 
• Ritchie, Graham & Anna (1981). Scotland: Archaeology and Early History. New York: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27365-0. 
• Ritchie, Anna (1995). Prehistoric Orkney. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd.. ISBN 0-7134-7593-5.