Hailed the best-preserved Neolithic village in northern Europe, Skara Brae stands on the southern shore of the Bay of Skaill, in Orkney’s West Mainland …
Skara Brae followed the pattern since noted at other Orcadian Neolithic settlements – houses were built, inhabited, abandoned and rebuilt, usually on the same site …
Skara Brae – the date and extent of the settlement
In 2017, a re-evaluation of Orcadian radiocarbon dates suggested that occupation at Skara Brae began around 2900BC, but was abandoned a short time later. The site was re-occupied between 2800-2700BC and finally abandoned around 2500BC …
The idea that Skara Brae was abandoned overnight in the face of a cataclysm is entirely incorrect. Unfortunately, like many myths surrounding the settlement, it is still often presented as indisputable fact …
The root of the name “Skara Brae” …
Not all monuments were created equal
Visitors to the Ness of Brodgar dig will probably have heard “surface over substance” used to describe the construction of some of the structures on site …
Not all monuments were created equal: part two
Evidence calls into question many assumptions surrounding chambered cairns and, indeed, Neolithic architecture. Not all structures were meant to be the steadfast edifices …
The Cuween cairn is built on an artificial terrace on the upper slopes of Cuween Hill’s eastern side. Cuween is a Maeshowe-type cairn consisting of a “roughly rectangular” central chamber with four smaller cells branching …
Just under three miles to the east of Cuween Hill, on the steep, upper slopes of Wideford Hill, is a second Neolithic passage grave …
The Bay of Firth Neolithic trail
Now that things are getting back to some semblance of normality, we’ve turned out attention to the incredibly rich Neolithic landscape around the Bay of Firth. Although the trail focuses on the two accessible chambered …
