Step Back In Time
The best-preserved Neolithic settlement in Western Europe
HAVE you ever wondered what the world was like 5000 years ago? Well, for starters, the pyramids were yet to be built, Stonehenge was 500 years off and the Roman Empire was millennia away.
The Neolithic era was the last period of the Stone Age and summons images of cavemen, clubs and animal skin togas. However, on Orkney, the discovery of the Neolithic settlement Skara Brae paints quite a different picture. From cupboards to hearths and even primitive plumbing, the discovery of Skara Brae shows a far more advanced civilisation than once thought.
Skara Brae is now one of Orkney’s most famous attractions, and with good reason. First uncovered during a storm in 1850, it is the best-preserved Neolithic settlement in Western Europe and it is an unmissable spot for any visitor to Orkney. It’s also part of the UNESCO Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.
With the modern visitor centre and the replica house to explore, the site now provides an enlightening day out for the entire family. In the visitor centre you can learn about Neolithic Orcadian life with fascinating artefacts such as tools, jewellery and even gaming dice. Kids will quickly become engrossed in the experience as well, imagining life among these novel-looking houses with the interactive exhibition and fact-finding quizzes for all ages.
The site itself really is something to behold. A path leads visitors across the tops of the houses where you can peer in and picture the bustle of life 5000 years ago. The houses were set into large mounds and linked with covered passages, creating what now resembles an open-top warren of rooms.
The replica house offers visitors a chance to see how the full interior might have looked, complete with “dressers”, box-beds, and fire pit. If the hearth in the centre of the room was complete with a roaring fire it wouldn’t be too hard to imagine settling down there.
Examples were found of primitive “amenities”, which are now on display in the visitor centre and although the stone bed looks a wee bit uncomfortable, it would probably do wonders for your back!
During the Summer months, a ticket to Skara Brae also includes access to Skaill House, the former home of William Graham Watt, who unearthed Skara Brae.
A tour of the house will further indulge any history lover, as the mantelpieces and sideboards at Skaill aren’t crowded with family portraits and porcelain ornaments, but Neolithic and Iron Age artefacts.
The tour is guaranteed to capture the attention of younger visitors thanks to the Viking hunt from the house Skara Brae. They might take a wee bit longer getting to sleep that night too, thanks to the plethora of ghost stories that haunt Skaill House, built on top of a Norse graveyard.
A wildflower-lined walk takes you from the house, back in time, to the 3180 BC Skara Brae site.