StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

The Importance of Skara Brae - Research Paper Example

Cite this document
Summary
Skara Brae is one of the most fascinating prehistoric sites situated near the shore of the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland in Orkney, Scotland. It was buried under the sand dune until one of the severe winter storms uncovered it in 1850 when the earth was stripped off one of the local landmarks where the local villagers found a virtually intact settlement, only without a roof…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.9% of users find it useful
The Importance of Skara Brae
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Importance of Skara Brae"

Download file to see previous pages

The first professional excavations were concluded under the supervision of Gordon Childe, the Professor of Archeology from Glasgow University started excavating the site. The first houses were built about 3200 BC and people lived there for about six hundred years. Significantly, the village did not grow much since the time it was first built, even though about 8 generations of people passes through it. The area does not have many woods around, houses and furniture inside is made of stones, which also contributed to the village being well preserved, even though not all the houses were built or occupied at the same time.

There are eight distinct houses in the settlement; each is a single-room. The floor space of each house is about 36 square meters and the walls were about three meters high. Early houses were built circular. The houses are built of the closely fitting flat stone slabs. The doorways and winding passages are low, which was preventing the winds from rushing in. There is a fire place in the central hearth. The houses are half in the ground, all huddled together and therefore insulated from the Atlantic weather, so it all made up for a very warm and cozy dwelling.

The whole settlement is built inside the heap of decomposed vegetable matter, animal bones, stone and shells. There is furniture inside each house, all of which is “fitted” and made of stone. There are large stone dressers with two shelves supported on three stone legs, bedsteads, small water tanks set into the floor and rectangular seats, storage places made of stone boxes and cells in the floor and the walls. The dresser in each house is positioned in such a way that whoever would enter the house would see the display of items on the dresser.

The houses are linked with each other by series of roofed tunnels, each has one entrance, most have bolt-securing hole cut in the stone to lock a stone slab door from inside. The other marvel of Skara Brae is sophisticated underground sewage disposal system made up of the stone built drainage channels which connected the houses to an outfall at the sea edge. The drains were made of stone and were lined up with the tree bark. This drainage system even may have included early form of toilet facilities.

The roofs of the houses were supported either by driftwood or whalebone beams. Since the roofs are gone now, we can assume it was made of perishable materials. It is gone now and we can see inside. Since all houses are equipped similarly and are similar in size, and there is nothing that looks like a dwelling of a chief, it is thought that Skara Brae is a settlement of people of equal rights. It seems the village was abandoned suddenly for dweller left behind even some valuables. What was the reason we can only speculate.

There are not many places in the world that has a virtually intact village that is 5,000 year old. This is Europe’s best preserved and most complete Neolithic village. It is older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids. In 1999 as a part of “The Heart of Neolithic Orkney” Skara Brae gained a status of UNESCO World Heritage Site. Skara Brae has particularly rich remarkably preserved remains of both furniture as well as wide range of domestic and ritual artifacts, drawings and symbols. All the remains with exceptional completeness gave us the picture of domestic, cultural and ritual practices of the

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Importance of Skara Brae Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/family-consumer-science/1414843-the-importance-of-skara-brae
(The Importance of Skara Brae Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
https://studentshare.org/family-consumer-science/1414843-the-importance-of-skara-brae.
“The Importance of Skara Brae Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/family-consumer-science/1414843-the-importance-of-skara-brae.
  • Cited: 1 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Importance of Skara Brae

Unethical globalization

Modern society is interconnected on different levels.... Ventures and businesses shifted from domestic and national markets to other markets globally thus increasing the mutual connection of different markets.... Advantages and disadvantages of globalisation is a question high on the agenda today....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Sikhism - the Fifth Largest Religion in the World

Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world, with about 23 million followers, of which nineteen million are concentrated in the Indian State of Punjab (Religion Facts Web site).... The origins of Sikhism have been subjected to various interpretations, but historians… The Bhakthi Movement, centered round ardent devotion to God, influenced both Hinduism and Sufi Islam and Sikhism is believed to Some Sikhs believe their religion to be a purified Hinduism, but most consider it to be a direct revelation from God, with no connection to any other religion (Robinson, 2005)....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Water for the Elephants by Sara Gruen

This paper 'Water for the Elephants by Sara Gruen" focuses on the story related to the exploitation of animal talents for the sake of the aggrandisement of wealth by human beings.... The story also relates to the exploitation of economically weak human beings, by other humans controlling power.... nbsp;… This is the story of Jacob in flashback....
9 Pages (2250 words) Book Report/Review

Purpose of Managing Visitors in Heritage Sites

Managing balance between visitation and conservation has long been recognised as the major aspects in the global tourism industry, especially the sites associated with world-class heritages that are likely to gain attention of the global tourists.... Since the increasing growth in… he global tourism business industry, developing a tailored as well as appropriate management plan for the visitors has been viewed as the major decision for the tourism organisations and agencies....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Operations Management Activities at Disneyland Paris

At that time called the largest investment in the history of France.... A number of reasons led to financial difficulty between 1992 and 1994 which posed an enormous fiscal burden on the park.... Europe's recession resulted… A huge fiscal reorganization took place to reduce the debt in 1994....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay

Equity and Trusts

The paper "Equity and Trusts" presents detailed information that at the outset, Sara's mental capacity as a testator is not in doubt, because she satisfies the three conditions to establish mental capacity, as set out in the case of Banks v Goodfellow.... hellip; The Courts will, therefore, attempt to determine, whether such communication has occurred, to determine whether a trust has come into existence with Sara's family as the beneficiaries, or whether the trust fails, and the legatee Jim must hold the estate on a resulting trust for the residuary estate....
6 Pages (1500 words) Case Study

1.Identify and discuss two issues that affect young peoples life chances

The wise saying goes, ‘Heath is wealth.... Through the journey of man from the age of horse-driven carts to the age of steam engines and finally to the modern internet civilization, one thing has constantly bothered him—how to maintain heath amidst the pressure of day to day… Everyone knows the health of the physical body is closely related to the health of the mind....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Adolescent Time of Regina Stuart

The paper "Adolescent Time of Regina Stuart" presents that Regina Stuart is a small and meek 16-year-old Caucasian girl living in the grand city of Chicago, Illinois.... She leads what seems to be a normal social life in the eyes of outsiders, but at home there is a struggle.... hellip; Regina is a Caucasian teenager living with her mother and has seen a very stressful life in a father-absent family....
8 Pages (2000 words) Case Study
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us