Skara brae Skara Brea is located in Scottland

Skara brae Skara Brea is located in Scottland.

First uncovered by a storm in 1850, Skara Brae remains a place of discovery today. Visit a replica Neolithic house to see how its full interior might have looked. Then follow the path that overlooks the ancient buildings, imagining what life was like for the farmers, hunters and fishermen who lived here. The prehistoric houses still contain stone ‘dressers’ and box-beds. Skara Brae is located on the west coast of Mainland, it is the largest Orkney island in Scotland. It consists of eight clustered houses , and was occupied from roughly 3180 BC-2500 BC.

In the winter of 1850, a severe storm hit Scotland, causing widespread damage and over 200 deaths. In the Bay of Skaill, the storm stripped the earth from a large irregular knoll known as "Skerrabra". When the storm cleared, local villagers found the outline of a village, consisting of a number of small houses without roofs. William Watt of Skaill, the local , began an amateur excavation of the site, but after four houses were uncovered, the work was abandoned in 1868. The site remained undisturbed until 1913, when during a single weekend the site was plundered by a party with shovels who took away an unknown quantity of artefacts. In 1924, another storm swept away part of one of the houses and it was determined the site should be made secure and more seriously investigated. The job was given to University of Edinburgh's Professor Vere Gordon Childe who travelled to Skara Brae for the first time in mid-1927.

Skara Brae's people were makers and users of grooved ware, a distinctive style of pottery that appeared in northern Scotland not long before the establishment of the village. The houses used earth sheltering, being sunk into the ground. They were sunk into mounds of preexisting prehistoric domestic waste known asmiddens. The midden provided the houses with a stability and also acted as insulation against Orkney's harsh winter climate. On average, each house measures 40 square metres (430 sq ft) in size with a large square room containing a stone hearth used for heating and cooking. Given the number of homes,