Visit one of the best preserved, mostly complete Neolithic villages in northern Europe.
This archaeological marvel wasn’t discovered until the winter of 1850, after a windstorm tore the grass off a large dune, exposing the outlines of ancient ruins underneath. It turned out to be a 5,000 year old Stone Age village, inhabited even before the Egyptian pyramids were built. Today, it’s considered to be the best preserved, most complete Neolithic village in northern Europe. Even the furniture in the little stone-slab houses remain impressively intact, and a wealth of artefacts have been unearthed to offer clues about this ancient civilisation that mysteriously abandoned their village around 2,500 BC.
The Skara Brae village is one of the four UNESCO World Heritages sites that make up the “Heart of Neolithic Orkney”, along with the Standing Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar and the Maeshowe chambered tomb. The site is accessible year-round (limited hours in winter), and artefacts are on display in the visitor centre.
View Orkney Isles
