Trip to Scotland

Skara Brae

On the westerly side of the main island of Orkney, at the Bay of Skaill are the ruins of Skara Brae. The village was discovered only 150 years ago after a bad storm uncovered part of it. The village is dated at over 5000 years old and was perfectly preserved by the sands that covered it.

We first went into a model built to represent the way the people lived 5000 years ago.

From there we saw the actual dwellings of the Neolithic people.

Entrances were built low so people entering had to crawl in, with their head coming into the dwelling first. Enemies probably didn't make it all the way into the dwelling. At the site there are 10 seperate dwelling - the guide said they housed 50-60 people at any one time.

On the beach were what appeared to be models, possible built by school kids studying the site.

When we had enough of the wind beating up our umbrellas, we headed for the house of the man that discovered the ruin while he was out walking his dog.