BuildingSkara Brae

[weetoon, 14.01.2007] For this author, Skara Brae is "possibly Orkney's most exciting archaeological site". The fact that this "astonishing prehistoric" village was buried for 5000 years under a sand dune means that "a moment of time" was frozen and preserved for "posterity". A sandstorm "buried" it around 2450 BC, and another storm "exposed" it in 1824 which explains the good state of preservation of the village. This represents a "marvellous" opportunity to "spy" on the ordinary life of people of all those years ago. Individual dwellings are "tiny" but contain an array of "primitive Stone Age furniture" as well as "personal effects". (From p297-8, Scottish Islands by Hamish Haswell-Smith published in 1996 by Canongate Books Ltd. ISBN: 0 86241 579 9)