Donated Skara Brae excavation documents bound for Orkney archives
A collection of documents relating to the excavation of Skara Brae in the late 1920s is bound for the Orkney Library and Archives. Read more
Category: Settlements
Toftsness Neolithic settlement, Sanday
Toftsness was the second Sanday settlement investigation in the 1980s - revealing a domestic and funerary landscape spanning millennia. Read more
Pool Neolithic settlement, Sanday
In the 1980s, two Neolithic settlements were excavated in the island of Sanday. Today we briefly look at Pool on the island’s south-western coast. Read more
Link: Skara Brae’s updated statement of significance published
Historic Environment Scotland's updated statement of significance for Skara Brae is available to download. Read more
Video: TV presenter’s thoughts on Skara Brae during 1964 visit
A splendid video from BBC Archives, featuring Cathal O'Shannon visiting the Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae. Read more
Rinyo Neolithic settlement, Rousay
In the winter of 1937/38, James Yorston was exploring the Braes of Rinyo, Rousay, when he came across stone slabs protruding from the turf. Yorston went on to expose the outline of two structures and portions of four others. Read more
The Stonehall settlement – part three
Excavated over a five-year period, the Stonehall Farm section was the most extensive area of the Neolithic settlement site - “a third location of early Neolithic settlement running parallel with the occupation of Stonehall Knoll and Meadow. Read more
The Stonehall settlement – part two
The section of the Neolithic settlement designated Stonehall Meadow was an area of mounds to the north-east of the Stonehall Knoll, where excavation revealed four Neolithic structures, three of which were in a poor state of preservation. Read more
The Stonehall settlement – part one
Lying in the shadow of the Cuween chambered cairn, the Stonehall settlement lies a few miles to the west of Crossiecrown, Wideford Hill and Smerquoy. Read more
The Smerquoy Neolithic settlement
Five years after the Wideford Hill settlement excavations, fieldwalking along the hill’s south-western base recovered tantalising evidence a second Neolithic settlement on low ground beneath the nearby chambered cairn. Read more
Wideford Hill settlement – the first evidence of Neolithic timber structures
The Wideford Hill settlement, in use from c3600-2900BC, lies at the north-western foot of the hill, south-west of Crossiecrown and east of the Stonehall settlement. Its discovery and excavation in 2002-2003 revealed a missing chapter from the biography of Neolithic Orkney – timber houses. Read more
The Crossiecrown settlement – part two
Parallels with Barnhouse and the Ness of Brodgar hint that the Crossiecrown “double-house” was more than a dwelling. The quality of the internal stonework, the deposited artefacts and the fact the Red House had been “decorated” suggests we have another example of a “big house” – a structure with “enhanced ancestral significance and status”. Read more
Crossiecrown settlement – part one
The Crossiecrown settlement lay in the northern shadow of Wideford Hill, on low ground to the north-east of the Quanterness cairn. Occupied from around 3300BC to 1800BC, the site spanned the Orcadian Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Read more
The Knap of Howar, Papa Westray
Until the early years of the 21st century, the two buildings at the Knap of Howar had the distinction of being the earliest evidence of Neolithic settlement in Orkney. Read more
