Skara Brae (redirected from Skara Brae - Heart of Neolithic Orkney)

Skara Brae (skâr`ə brā), Stone Age village, on Mainland in the Orkney Islands, N Scotland. Dating from c.3200 to 2200 B.C., the village was preserved under a sand dune until uncovered by a storm in 1851. It contains seven underground chambers furnished with stone dressers, tables, and beds. Skara Brae is considered an outstanding preserved Stone Age village.

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Skara Brae

 or Skerrabra

Late Neolithic village on the shore of the Bay of Skaill in Scotland's Orkney Islands. Skara Brae was built c. 3200–2200 BC. Covered by a sand dune, it is one of the most perfectly preserved ancient villages of Europe. Its excavation, begun in the 1860s, revealed huts of undressed, mortarless stone slabs containing stone furniture. They were linked by paved alleys; some had been covered by banking them with mixed sand, peat ash, and refuse, becoming stone-roofed tunnels. A sewer drained the whole. Inhabitants lived on the flesh and milk of their cattle and on shellfish; they probably wore skins. For tools they used local stone, beach pebbles, and animal bones. They wore pendants and coloured beads of sheep marrow, cows' teeth, killer-whale teeth, and boars' tusks. Lozenges and similar rectilinear patterns were scratched on hut walls and along alleys. Pottery vessels show incised and relief designs, including the only example of a true spiral known from prehistoric Britain.

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Skara Brae

a Neolithic village in NE Scotland, in the Orkney Islands: one of Europe's most perfectly preserved Stone Age villages, buried by a sand dune until uncovered by a storm in 1850

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Skara Brae 

a village dating from the late Neolithic (first half of the second millennium B.C.) in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. Skara Brae was excavated from 1927 to 1930 by V. G. Childe. Three periods of the village’s history have been established. The most recent village consisted of seven one-room dwellings, with packed-clay floors and centrally located hearths. The dwellings were located on both sides of a narrow lane and in time were connected by low, roofed passageways. The walls of the houses and all the indoor furnishings, including beds, chests, and tables, were made of stone slabs. The principal occupation of the inhabitants was stock raising.

REFERENCE

Childe, V. G. Skara Brae: A Pictish Village in Orkney. London, 1931. [23–1477–]