Skara Brae Research Paper

Have you ever thought about how people lived a long time ago? Well, there is one community with a creative way of living. It’s called Skara Brae. It’s considered a Neolithic Village. It’s located on the bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney. It’s older than the Stonehenge and Great Pyramids, and has been named “Scottish Pompeii” because of its excellent preservation. What’s so special about it? Well, it’s mainly underground. It was considered a very comfortable way of living during B.C. (Before Christ) times. Skara Brae is located on the largest Orkney Island, Mainland. It’s made up of underground dwellings. The walls are made of sand-stone slabs, while the roof is made of sewn-together animal skins. On average, the houses measure 40 square meters in size. The dwellings each hold stone-built pieces of furniture. You enter each dwelling through a low doorway, with a stone-slab door. Each dwelling has a drainage system, like the modern-day “toilet system”. When you enter a dwelling, you see a stone dresser opposite the door, standing against the wall. A hearth would be in the center, with a hole in the top of the ‘roof’, for the smoke to be let out. A large bed

They were primarily pastoralists who raised cattle and sheep. They did not practice agriculture. Dwellers supplemented themselves with seafood. You can back this statement up with information because of the discovery of fish bones and shells in the middens. It has been suggested by Euan MacKie that Skara Brae may have been the home of a privileged theocratic class of wise men who engaged in astronomical and and magical ceremonies at nearby sites, such as the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness. Graham and Anna Ritchie disagree with Euan. A Neolithic “low-road” connects Skara Brae with the tomb of Maeshowe, and passes near both of the sites. Low roads connect Neolithic ceremonial sites throughout