Skara Brae and the sacred Neolithic landscape of Orkney

In the winter of 1850 a violent storm swept the Bay of Skaill, on the west coast of Mainland, the largest of the Orkney islands, north of Scotland. Wind and waves stripped the grass and sand from a dune, revealing stone walls and structures that no one remembered. It was Skara Brae, a Neolithic village inhabited for centuries about five thousand years ago and preserved so exceptionally that it has been called the Pompeii of Scotland.

A village furnished in stone

The landowner, William Watt of Skaill, began the first excavations, but systematic research was carried out between 1927 and 1930 by the archaeologist V. Gordon Childe. Dating indicates that the village was occupied roughly between 3100 and 2500 BC. The houses, linked by covered passages, were partly sunk into mounds of organic refuse that protected them from the wind and cold of the Atlantic.

Since wood was scarce on Orkney, the inhabitants built their furniture in stone as well. In each house one can recognise a central hearth, beds enclosed by slabs, small watertight tanks perhaps used to keep bait, and above all a shelved dresser placed opposite the entrance, where anyone coming in immediately saw the objects on display. This arrangement has suggested a symbolic use of domestic space as well.

Enigmatic objects

The finds from Skara Brae include pottery of the type known as Grooved Ware, ornaments, bone tools and some objects whose meaning is still debated. The most famous are the carved stone balls, decorated with regular knobs, found in various parts of Scotland. They have been interpreted as symbols of prestige, ceremonial instruments or weights, but no hypothesis has been proved. The excavations also yielded necklaces of teeth and bone and small containers with traces of pigment, perhaps used to decorate the body.

In one of the dwellings, a cell beneath the walls contained the remains of two women, buried perhaps before the house was built. Some scholars have seen a foundation rite in this, others a simple burial. This example also shows how, in the Neolithic, the distinction between daily life and the sacred sphere was probably less sharp than we are used to thinking.

The Neolithic heart of Orkney

Skara Brae should not be considered in isolation. A few kilometres away lie the chambered tomb of Maeshowe, whose passage is lit by the setting sun in the days around the winter solstice, the Ring of Brodgar, a great stone circle originally of perhaps sixty monoliths, and the Stones of Stenness, among the oldest stone circles in the British Isles. In 1999 UNESCO brought these sites together under the name Heart of Neolithic Orkney.

Since 2004 excavations at the Ness of Brodgar, between the two stone circles, have uncovered large stone buildings, painted walls and an exceptional quantity of finds, revealing a ceremonial complex of primary importance. The village of Skara Brae thus appears as part of a vast sacred landscape, in which houses, tombs and stone circles spoke to one another.