Skara Brae

As I had friends visiting over the weekend I took the opportunity to revisit Skara Brae, the remains of a neolithic village thought to have been inhabited from between 3200 BC and 2200 BC. The remains are amazing. Above is a photo that shows the basic design shared by all the houses : a large square room, with a central hearth, beds on either side and a shelved dresser on the wall opposite the entrance. I've shared similar pictures before but I always think it's worth sharing again! I love this place. Now it is very close to the shore, with a sea wall built to protect it, and there are concerns that further work is needed to prevent more coastal erosion, but when it was built it was probably up to a mile or so inland.


As well as the neolithic village, there is also Skaill House to visit (see photo below). Early parts of this mansion house were built for Bishop George Graham in the 1620s. The house is still a family home, but certain parts are open to the public as a museum and the rooms are presented as it was in the 1950's. In the dining room is a china dinner service from Captain Cook's ship. Cook's ship put into Stromness on it's return home from his last fateful voyage.

Skara Brae

I've had a colleague from far south visiting for the last couple of days. Among the talk of work etc we did find time to take a quick look at Skara Brae which is located in Skaill Bay (see here for loads of info). As well as investigating for ourselves this important neolithic village, we had also to sample the wonderful home bakes sold in the cafe - for quality control purposes you understand. It's important these are tasted regularly to ensure they come up to the high standards expected by tourists.....

Anyway - just sharing some pictures with you. Must dash - lots to do, may not be around for a few days - so hopefully these photos will keep you going.......

These photos are of one of the houses in the village



This shows the famous "neolithic" dresser - where objects made of bone and pottery were found when the site was excavated.


The village is now right on the shore and in danger from coastal erosion, but evidence suggests that it was much further inland when originally inhabited. The green mound in the bottom left corner is the top of one of the houses.

Orkney archaeology

I forget who it was who said "Scratch the surface of Orkney and it bleeds archaeology" but it certainly seems to be true. Orkney, due to remoteness, escaped the worst excesses of the industrial age and the land is largely undisturbed. So not only have wonderful Neolithic sites (neolithic period from about 4000 to 1800BC) such as Skara Brae (photo above) been discovered, but other sites are still being explored and interpreted with several "digs" being conducted in Orkney this summer.


One of these digs has a daily blog written by those working at the site of the Ness of Brodgar, which is quite close to the Ring of Brodgar (a circle of standing stones, photo above). They are finding interesting bits of pottery and linking together the history of this site with others on Orkney. The dig goes on through August and I'm hoping to get along to one of the tours given by the team. I'll post some photos when I do!