2.1 Where and when was it build

2.1.1 Skara Brae, on the southern shore of Sandwick, Orkney, was a late Neolithic settlement that was inhabited between 3200 and 2200 BC. Situated on the western edge of the largest of the Orkney islands, Mainland, Skara Brae bore the brunt of the storms coming in from the west. It was a harsh environment, the island being generally flat and treeless.

Eight prehistoric houses, connected by low covered passageways, have survived. The village was revealed by a winter storm in 1850. A series of archaeological excavations uncovered the Neolithic village.Seven of the houses have stone dressers, beds and seats. The eighth building is divided into small areas and may have been used as a workshop as fragments of antler and bone were found in it. The discovery proved to be the best-preserved Neolithic village in northern Europe. And so it remains today.

2.2 Context, building period & evolution

2.2.1 In the winter of 1850, a ferocious gale hammered the west coast of the Orkney mainland sending huge waves crashing against the shore. In the Bay of Skaill these ripped away the turf and underlying sand to reveal the remains of a Stone Age village, Skara Brae. The settlement was exposed to daylight for the first time in nearly four and a half thousand years.The group of six houses and a workshop is connected by a covered close, and all the buildings except for the workshop were buried to the tops of the walls by midden. Everything in the houses was necessarily made of stone, including seats, beds and cupboards. The builders even incorporated stone sewers and drains underneath the stone floors so that the people need not venture outside in the harshest of weathers.

This clay-like mixture of refuse consists of ashes, shells, bones, sand and other domestic detritus and has been a major factor in protecting the site from erosion. It seems that the occupants had built the midden around their houses intentionally as an integral part of the construction. It appears to have been stored and used deliberately rather than piled round existing houses. Damp-proof courses had also been invented over 5,000 years ago. The foundations of the houses have a layer of blue clay in the bottom course which would have worked as well as polythene does today. The profound importance of this remarkable site was given official recognition in 1999 when it was inscribed upon the World Heritage List as part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

2.2.2 The inhabitants of Skara Brae were not only Ancient Egyptians, they were Ancient Egyptian Priest Astronomers. As Skara Brae was settled in the Age of Taurus, the Bull, a person would expect to find evidence of this astronomical time at the site, probably in the shape of bull’s horns. Such evidence has been discovered in the shape of a stylized bull’s head.

This stone artefact, which looks not unlike a gavel, would have been used in ceremonial ritual. The term Skara Brae Stylized Bull’s Head Gavel or Skara Brae Taurus Stone was coined for the reason. Both the Skara Brae Sphere and the Skara Brae Stylized Bull’s Head Gavel or Taurus Stone are symbols of the Precession of the Equinoxes. The importance of House Seven  at Skara Brae is evident, and as such it would have been occupied by the Chief Priest. Moreover it would have been here that the ritual ceremonies of Ancient Egypt would have been re-enacted. The villagers were farmers, hunters and fishermen, capable of producing items of beauty and sophistication with rudimentary technology. No weapons have been found and the settlement was not in a readily defended location, suggesting a peaceful life.

2.2.3 The man chosen for the job was a brilliant Australian named Vere Gordon Childe (shown below on the ladder) who had recently become holder of the Abercrombie Chair of Archaeology at Edinburgh University. He made a thorough record of the site and recognized the fact that there was more than one phase of occupation.

There were at least three principal phases of construction at Skara Brae, representing at least six centuries of occupation, from about 3100-2500 BC. As was the custom throughout, the earliest houses were built using midden material in the construction of their walls, implying the existence of an even earlier settlement. These walls consisted of an inner and an outer skin of dry stone with the space in between filled with the aforesaid midden material which served as insulation. In fact, the whole village was built hollows scooped out of a large heap of the stuff and it was packed up against the walls and on top of the roofs. Building 8 (Below) sits all by itself on the west side of the village.

It has a distinct appearance and, apart from the hearth, it has none of the usual furnishings—no beds, no limpet boxes and no 'dresser'. Instead, there is much more storage space and an additional room. Childe found a lot of debris from the manufacture of flint tools and burnt volcanic stones and so interpreted the building as a workshop. However, it may have had a more formal role as a meeting house for the community, possibly even involving ceremonial activities. 

2.2.4 Site Plan

2.2.5 Site Section

2.2.6 Location Plan

2.2.7 The inhabitants of Skara Brae erected the twelve Stones of Stenness in a perfect circle to represent the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac and eventually thirteen tombs were erected on Mainland Orkney to represent the Lunar Zodiac.

2.2.8 Village life appears to have ended around 2,500 BC. No one knows why. Some argue that it was because a huge sandstorm engulfed their houses, others that it was more gradual.

As village life came to an end, new monuments were beginning to rise up on mainland Orkney, including most importantly the chambered tomb at Maes Howe and the impressive stone circles at the Ring of Brodgar and Stenness. No evidence has been found of anything which could have not come from Orkney, suggesting a self-sufficient lifestyle.

ReferenceArt History Worlds. (2015). Skara Brae: An Ancient Egypt Settlement. Retrieved April 12, 2015, from http://arthistoryworlds.org/skara-brae-an-ancient-egyptian-settlement//>Odyssey. (2015). Skara Brae. Retrieved April 21, 2015, from http://www.odysseyadventures.ca/articles/skarabrae/skarabrae_article.htm/>Orkneyjar. (2015).  The discovery of the village.   Retrieved April 21, 2015, from http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae//>Owen, J. (2014).  Skara Brae: Prehistoric Scottish Village.   Retrieved April 21, 2015, from  http://www.livescience.com/43783-skara-brae.html

Scotland's History. (2013). Skara Brae. Retrieved April 12, 2015, from http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshistory/earlypeople/skarabrae//>Tait, C. (2002). Orkney's Neolithic Village.   Retrieved April 12, 2015, from />Visit Scotland. (2015).  Skara Brae Prehistoric Village.   Retrieved April 21, 2015, from http://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/skara-brae-prehistoric-village-p247671/>