Neolithic Village Skara Brae On Visit To The West Coat Of The Orkney Islands Scotland

Tour Scotland travel video with Scottish music, of the Neolithic village of Skara Brae located on Bay of Skaill on visit to the West Coast of the mainland Orkney Islands. Older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids, it has been called the Scottish Pompei because of its excellent preservation. The name Skara Brae is a corruption of the old name for the site, Skerrabra or Styerrabrae which designated the mound which buried, and thereby preserved, the buildings of the village. The name by which the original inhabitants knew the site is unknown. Skara Brae is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The builders of Skara Brae constructed their homes from flagstones and layered them into the earth for greater support, filling the space between the walls and the earth with middens for natural insulation. Every piece of furniture in the homes, from dressers to cupboards to chairs and beds, was fashioned from stone. Hearths indicate the homes were warmed by fire and each home would originally have had a roof, perhaps of turf, which, it is assumed, had some sort of opening to serve as a chimney. Even so, it is thought that the houses, which had no windows, would have been fairly smoky and certainly dark.

All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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