Skara Brae

In the winter on 1850 a wild storm stripped the grass from the high dune known as Skara Brae in
the Bay of Skaill on mainland Orkney. An immense midden or refuse heap was uncovered. So
too were the ruins of ancient dwellings. What came to light in that storm proved to be the best
preserved neolithic village in northern Europe. The village of Skara Brae was inhabited before
the Egyptian pyramids were built and flourished many centuries before construction began at
Stonehenge. It is some 5000 years old. The structures of this semi-subterranean village survive in
impressive condition as does the furniture in the village houses.

Skara Brae had two phases. Most of what we see belongs to the second and later phase of the
village. Below that are the remains of an earlier village laid out on a different plan. The doorway
and stump of wall below on the edge of the settlement which is no exposed is part of the earlier
village because its built on a lower level. To see more would mean further excavation but to do
that would mean destoying a large part of House 4.

Skara Brae House 1

This shows the basic layout of all the houses in the village.The door is beneath you. Opposite is
the dresser - around the dresser , set into the floor are three small tanks for preparing fish bait.
Just to the right of the dresser is a large grinding stone. In the centre is the hearth. Between the
hearth and the dresser is a stone seat. On either side of the house are box beds. Above the beds,
set into the walls are further storage spaces. Yet more storage is provided by cells or alcoves set
into the thickness of the walls
Skara Brae House 2
Skara Brae House 3

Skara Brae House 4

Skara Brae House 5
The cells or alcoves set into the thickness of the walls can be seen more clearly in House 5. The
cell behind the not so well preserved dresser is typical of many in the houses. Blocked by what
was stored in the dresser , access to this cell would have been difficult - and so things could have
been stored here quite securely.
Skara Brae House 7
This is the best preserved of all the houses. Its dresser, box beds, hearth and storage spaces are
all standard features of Skara Brae houses.

The penned off area by the doorway was probably used for storing large pots. The reconstructed
house at the visitor centre is based on house 7.
Skara Brae House 9
This is one of the earlier phase houses which is preserved as there is no later house built on top
of it. Here you can see the central hearth , remains of a dresser and beds on either side. The beds
are set into the thickness of the wall rather than projecting from them. This is the only difference
between the earlier and later phases of building.
Skara Brae House 10
This is one of the earlier phase buildings but is much less well-preserved as House number 9. It
has been badly robbed out - maybe to provide building stone for the later village.

Skara Brae - Furniture

The furniture in the village houses was largely made of stone for two related reasons - Firstly,
Orkney , then as now, was almost without trees - secondly the nature of the local flagstone, its
ready availability and workability makes it ideal construction material for most purposes.

The Beds

Today we see only the skeletons of the peoples box beds, the stone remains. Usually the beds
have cupboards set into the wall above them
The Dresser

In each house the dresser faces the door and dominates your view as you enter. This may have
been a simple storage unit. There is a stone seat in front of the dresser in the best preserved
houses.

Central Hearth

In the centre of the house between the door and the dresser is the hearth. But what did the people
burn in it? While there is plenty of usable peat in Orkney today, this did not form until several
centuries after the settlement was abandoned.
The Boxes

Set into the floors of the houses, near the hearth are stone boxes. The joints of these were luted -
cemented with clay - to make them watertight.

The Cells

These are cupboards, alcoves or compartments recessed into the walls of the houses and vary in
size and ease of access. Most of these are storage spaces. Some cells have drains running under
them but because the drains cant be mapped properly without demolishing buildings its cant be
said for sure that every house had one. Insofar as the excavation of the drains which has been
possible it may be that we are seeing one of the earliest comprehensice systems of indoor
sanitation.
The Doors

The doors were not hinged. You can still see the two doorstops, one projecting from the floor,
the other from the ceiling of the entrance passage. The door itself was a slab of stone large
enough to fill the entrance gap. The door was pinned against the projecting stops by a bar
crossing behind it and fitting into slots in the wall of the entrance passage which allowed the
door to be opened or closed. The bars were made of whalebone or wood.

Skara Brae - Artefacts

Bone points and polishers - these bone points could have been used for punching holes and
stitching leather but they could also have been used for teasing out crab meat. Some of the bone
points are round and blunt - they may have been used for polishing leather

Serrated slab - this stone tool with a serrated edge was found on a shelf in one of the houses, It
is not clear exactly what it was used for. The teeth are too thick to be a saw, but it is possible it
was used to separate grains of barley from their stems.
Bone blades- These polished bone blades may have been used to scrape animal skins - but they
may also have been used as cutting tools

Special stone objects - probably used in religious rites - around 400 or so of these have been
found across Scotland. They have no obvious practical use and so its thought they have a
spiritual or symbolic purpose.
Grinding stone