About 3800 BCE, farming, which included growing grain crops and raising domesticated animals, arrived in Orkney, an archipelago off the northeast coast of Scotland. With farming people are able to settle down in permanent villages. One of the early Orcadian farming villages was Skara Brae.
Skara Brae was first established about 3100 BCE and then, after several centuries of occupation and rebuilding, the people abandoned the village about 2500 BCE. Sand then covered the abandoned village, preserving it for modern archaeologists.
Skara Brea lay forgotten under the sand dunes on the Bay of Skail until a severe storm in 1860 blew away part of the dune, exposing the stone walls of the ancient village. However, archaeological investigation of the site didn’t happen for sixty years.
The first archaeological excavations at Skara Brae were carried out by V. Gordon Childe who was the first Abercromby Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at Edinburgh University. With regard to Childe, Brian Fagan, in his book Archaeologists: Explorers of the Human Past, reports:
“Vere Gordon Childe was the most widely read archaeologist of the 20th century. His popular books on prehistoric Europe and the ancient Near East influenced popular thinking about archaeology for a half-century.”
Concerning Childe’s excavations at Skara Brae, Christopher Catling and Paul Bahn, in their book The Complete Practical Encyclopedia of Archaeology, write:
“The remarkable architectural detail he revealed resulted in Skara Brae becoming one of the most famous Neolithic settlements in Europe.”
What the archaeological excavations found was a small village composed of at least eight houses which had been constructed with stone walls and probably roofed with timbers and hides. The houses were linked together with two long, roofed passageways which minimized the impact of the incessant wind.
When V. Gordon Childe first excavated the site, he estimated that Skara Brae had been occupied about 500 BCE. However, with the more modern radiocarbon dating, the village has been shown to have been occupied since about 3100 BCE.
With regard to the archaeological importance of Skara Brae, Evan Hadingham, in his book Circles and Standing Stones: An Illustrated Exploration of Megalith Mysteries of Early Britain, writes:
“The intimate story told by these ruins has no parallel at any domestic site south of the Orkneys.”
The People
The people who lived at Skara Brae supported themselves by keeping cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep. They also fished. Initially, archaeologists did not think they raised any crops, but recent evidence shows that they cultivated wheat and barley, at least on a small scale.
Not all of the houses found at Skara Brae today were occupied at the same time. The population of the village is generally estimated to have been less than 50 people.
Like other agricultural people, they also made and used pottery. The grooved ware pottery found at Skara Brae is similar to that found at the enclosures in southern England. John Wood, in his book Sun, Moon and Standing Stones, reports:
“At Skara Brae the earliest levels contain grooved ware, thus showing that the direct trade o that fashion spread from one end of Britain to the other before 2000 BC.”
The Setting
Today, the archaeological remains of the village are situated fairly close to the bay. When the site was occupied the beach would have been much farther away. The site may have been adjacent to a freshwater lagoon which was protected by the dunes. With the ongoing erosion, the lagoon has disappeared and additional structures may have also been lost. The site is currently protected from sea erosion by a sea wall.
The Site
Prior to the construction of the houses at Skara Brae, there had been a large midden (trash dump) at the site. Christopher Catling and Paul Bahn write:
“The farmers scraped large pits in the midden, which they then lined with sandstone slabs to form at least eight houses. Each house had a rectangular open area of 4m to 6 m (13ft to 20ft) across and 3m (10ft) deep.”
Constructing the houses in a midden provided some additional support for the walls, but more importantly in provided insulation against the harsh Orkney winters.
One of the interesting features of the village is a rather sophisticated drainage system. Each of the houses has what appears to have been a primitive toilet.
Covered Passages
Houses
All of the houses at Skara Brae seem to have been laid out with a specific plan in mind. At the center of each house is a square hearth. It is presumed that the roof must have had an opening to let the smoke escape.
When V. Gordon Childe first excavated Skara Brae he presumed that the fuel burned in the hearths was peat. However, later archaeological research found that the climatic conditions needed for the development of thick peat beds did not happen until after Skara Brae had been abandoned. Possible fuels used in the houses include driftwood, animal dung, and dried seaweed.
With regard to the type of roof used in the Skara Brae house, Christopher Catling and Paul Bahn write:
“We do not know how the open areas were roofed. It has been suggested that whale ribs covered with hide were used in place of timber.”
Regarding whale bones, Simon Kaner, in his report on European farming in The Atlas of World Archaeology, writes:
“…whale jawbones found at the site may have helped to support the earthen roofs of the buildings, and hollowed whale vertebrae were probably used as querns for grinding cereals.”
Furniture
Archaeologists found the interiors of the houses at Skara Brae well preserved. Evan Hadingham reports:
“Within the huts were found many details of domestic life, such as the stone beds on which the farmers and fishermen of the settlement slept, no doubt cushioned by mattresses of heather. The furniture in the houses includes what can only be described as stone ‘dressers’, with cupboards and compartments suggesting the storage of food, clothes or utensils. Stone hearths, together with small watertight basins on the floor, possibly for keeping shellfish or fresh water, are to be seen in most of the rooms.”
Alistair Moffat, in his book Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History, writes:
“All of the furniture is stone-built and fixed, and this unchanging arrangement moulded domestic routines and behaviour.”
With regard to the stone-framed beds, Alistair Moffat writes:
“Archaeologists believe that the larger of the stone beds, which always sit to the right, were for men, and the the smaller beds opposite, on the other side of the hearth, were used by women.”
Alistair Moffat also reports:
“The archaeologists at Skara Brae found evidence for canopies and screens of hide around the stone bed-frames which might have afforded some modesty. It is unlikely that nudity offended prehistoric sensibilities, but it may well be that love-making was not something done openly in front of a family audience.”
One of the interesting features of the stone furniture in the Skara Brae houses are what appear to be dressers—stone shelving units. In each of the houses, these dressers were place opposite the entry and would have been among the first things seen by a person entering the house. Alistair Moffat writes:
“Perhaps its function included display, rather like those reproduction antique Welsh dressers which are designed to show off china on their narrow upper shelves ass well as store it below in cupboard compartments.”