Jeffery NichollsMay 11

Skara Brae is quite unique as a neolithic habitation settlement. A thousand years later, in the Bronze age, similar structures are found to have been built, but nothing this early.

It is described by the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings in Scotland, in the attached blog.

#neolithic #prehistory #archaeology #Orkney #Scotland #Brodgar #skarabrae

https://orkneyriddler.blogspot.com/2025/06/skara-brae-rcahms.html

Skara Brae, RCAHMS

  Series Title:- Orkney Riddle 18/27 Blog Title:- Skara Brae  RCAHMS   The most famous monument on Orkney is Skara Brae, dubbed the “Neolith...

Show threadƧƿѦςɛ♏ѦਹѤʞMay 11
@Tea_Break
I love all the publicity that Skara Brae gets because it keeps all the grubby tourists away from the real archaeological gem on Papa Westray. 🙂
#Orkney #archaeology #neolithic #KnapOfHowar #ancient #history
Show threadJeffery NichollsMay 11
@spacemagick I've not been there, but i know a bit about it. It's the earliest dated site on the archipelago, at a time more in keeping with skeletons found on shetland.
More about Knap of Howar, and Links of Noltland in "The Westrays" on my blog.
Show threadƧƿѦςɛ♏ѦਹѤʞMay 11
@Tea_Break
I don't usually do woo-woo but knowing its extreme antiquity makes it incredibly atmospheric.
Presumably this basic building design persisted for at least 1300 years - possibly way longer. Who knows how many more of these sites have been lost to sea over the millennia.
#Orkney #archaeology
Show threadJeffery Nicholls
@spacemagick it's really nice to know that it comes with it's own atmosphere. I have been looking at this for a long time, and I think it likely that there won't be structures far below our water line. My theory, which i am generally outlining in my overlong blog, is that these heavy, high walled structures were built by people who had become stranded on the westrays. I have no proof whatever. Just a theory.
May 11 at 3:44pmWeb
Show threadƧƿѦςɛ♏ѦਹѤʞMay 11
@Tea_Break
By 'stranded' you mean a time when they ran out of trees (for whatever reason) to make boats?
#Orkney #archaeology
Show threadJeffery NichollsMay 11
@spacemagick no, I mean that sea level rose after the ice age, and at a later stage, some time in the middle of the Neolithic period the last vestiges of land linking islands of orkney archipelago to Scotland and Shetland were washed away, leaving a few unlucky groups to build more substantial dwellings than they ever had before. Because orkney in winter is a bit of a bugger!
Show threadƧƿѦςɛ♏ѦਹѤʞMay 11
@Tea_Break
Totally plausible. 🙂
#Orkney #archaeology