Skara Brae

Skara Brae is a Neolithic farming village preserved beneath the sand dunes of the Bay of Skaill on Mainland Orkney's Atlantic coast. The village was occupied from approximately 3100 to 2500 BC and was buried under sand and turf, which preserved its stone structures to near roof height until a severe winter storm exposed them in 1850. The eight interconnected single-room houses, each roughly 40 square metres in area, are linked by covered passageways designed to keep out the Orkney weather. Each house contains an identical layout: a central hearth, stone beds on either side, a stone dresser facing the entrance, storage cells in the walls, and drainage channels beneath the floor. The stone furniture — preserved to remarkable height because wood was scarce on Orkney — makes Skara Brae unique among prehistoric sites worldwide; no other settlement gives such an intimate view into Neolithic domestic life. The village is older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid of Giza. A replica house at the visitor centre allows visitors to experience the scale and arrangement of the interior without stepping into the archaeology. The site overlooks the beach at the Bay of Skaill, itself beautiful for a walk. The adjacent Skaill House (circa 1620), the period mansion of the local laird, is included in the combined ticket. The site is managed by Historic Environment Scotland.