Stone-age Orkney: Hobbit homes in the village of Skara Brae

See where the real-life Flintstones lived at the 5,000-year-old village of Skara Brae in the third and final post on stone-age Orkney. Plus, I am giving away two copies of the DVD Standing with Stones – for details on how to enter, please see the end of the post.

When the village of Skara Brae was built, it was a mile or so inland from the sea. Five thousand years later it stands on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, protected only by a crumbling concrete sea wall built in 1926. As I walked around the stone-age village, I veered between marvelling at how well-preserved the site is for its age and worrying about its future. Most archaeological sites are vulnerable to the elements and the impact of tourism but I was struck that Skara Brae was particularly threatened because of the forecast rises in sea levels as the world’s climate changes. Indeed, when I did further research at home I found that the experts are also alarmed by this prospect and Skara Brae’s managers have even discussed digging up and moving the village to a safer location.

For now at least, you can see the World Heritage-listed site in its original location. The village was occupied for 600 years before it was covered over with sand and dirt and grass. It remained hidden until a gale in 1850 ripped off the turf and exposed it to the world.

The houses and connecting passages are all made from stone. Often when you see prehistoric ruins, only the foundations remain but I could clearly see the stone furniture in each square house – the hearth, the dresser, the bed. With the absence of rooves and the turf filling in all the gaps between the houses, it reminded me of a cut-away of a series of hobbit homes. The lay-out of all the houses was identical except for one – the workshop, used to make pottery and jewellery. This building was rectangular, with no beds and a different configuration of furniture. Fragments of chert (a stone used to make cutting and scraping tools in the absence of flint) were found on the floor.

Near the entrance of the museum, there is a reconstruction of a hut, with its roof on and some of the things that may have been found inside – such as a crab in the hearth and an animal fur hanging over the rail of the bed. This is interesting but almost unnecessary given how well-preserved the real thing is. All of these photos are from the actual site, not the reconstruction.

It’s amazing to think of the people who used to live here and the complex societies and sophisticated engineering skills they possessed – they even had water closets 3,000 years before the arrival of the Romans in Britain. These people weren’t primitive in the usual sense of the word – it sounds to me that the 1960s cartoon The Flintstones was a lot closer to reality than I thought.

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Skara Brae
Mainland, Orkney
KW16 3LR, UK

The property is located 31km north west of Kirkwall on the B9056.
Grid reference: HY 231188

Skara Brae is managed by Historic Scotland.

Open 7 days; 9.30am-5.30pm from April to September and 9.30am-4.30pm October to March. In summer you can also visit the nearby stately home of Skaill House.
Summer (entry to Skara Brae and Skaill House) Adult £6.70, Child £3.35, Concession £5.20
Winter (entry to Skara Brae only) Adult £5.70, Child £2.85, Concession £4.70

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DVD give-away and discount

After writing my post on the Ring of Brodgar, I was followed by the account @Standing_Stones on Twitter. Intrigued, I responded and soon started talking to film maker Michael Bott about his documentary Standing with Stones. It sounded fascinating and I thought that, given the popularity of these posts on stone-age Orkney, the readers of Roaming Tales would likely be interested as well.

From the website: Standing with Stones is a remarkable and unprecedented documentary film that takes the viewer beyond Stonehenge – that all-too familiar icon of Stone Age Britain – on an incredible journey of discovery that reveals the true wealth and extent of Neolithic and Bronze Age Britain & Ireland.

If you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the length and breadth of the British Isles, visiting the most intriguing and enigmatic monuments that our ancestors left us, from Cornwall through England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland to the outer reaches of the Hebrides and Orkney, then you will love this film.

I’m delighted to announce a give-away of the DVD Standing with Stones. To win a copy, leave a comment below by 1 October. Please let me know if you are PAL (eg. Australia and Europe) or NTSC (eg. Canada and the US). (There are no other DVD region zoning restrictions). I am giving away one copy of each format, with free shipping. You can get additional entries by reviewing the post on StumbleUpon or tweeting about it but please let me know so I can generate your extra entry.

In addition, the film maker is offering a £3 discount off the PAL-version of the DVD if you use the code “roamingtales” when you place your order. The current website price is £15.99 (recommended retail price is £19.99) but it could be yours for £12.99 plus postage and handling.

If you are in North America or another NTSC region, you can buy the DVD from Amazon for $22.49 – a 10% discount with eligibility for free Super Saver shipping.

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This is the final post in my series on stone-age Orkney. Please check out the previous posts in the series.
Part one: Standing Stones and the Ring of Brodgar
Part two: Fairy Mounds and Maeshowe
Bonus: Photo Friday: The Standing Pebbles of Orkney

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