Roofs At Skara Brae

Skara brae case study.

Roofs at skara brae.

Brae describes a hill. No trace of the roofs survives. What were the houses like inside. Wood has always been at a premium in orkney but driftwood from the carolinas or the ribs of beached whales would have provided a suitable framework to.

What do we know about the people. What and where is skara brae. Skara brae ˈ s k ær ə ˈ b r eɪ is a stone built neolithic settlement located on the bay of skaill on the west coast of mainland the largest island in the orkney archipelago of scotland consisting of eight clustered houses it was occupied from roughly 3180 bc to about 2500 bc and is europe s most complete neolithic village. Houses at skara brae were made of stacked stone slabs built into midden mounds made of waste material like animal bones and bits of rubbish.

This structure the best preserved on the site was found to be standing on natural sand while the other houses in the settlement were built on top of the remains of previous structures. Skara brae house roofs. The midden served as a great. The meaning of the skara skerra part of the name is unknown.

Why would they do this. The amazing artefacts discovered at this incredible site give us an insight into what life was like in britain during that time. Neolithic carvings beneath the glass viewing roof of one of its famous domed homes were threatened by an unstable environment. Before that in 1857 ce the village was believed to have been covered by a sand storm.

The site was originally known in orkney as a mound called skerrabra this has been corrupted over the years to skara brae. Because the houses were built into the midden from the outside the village would have appeared as a low round mound broken only by the surface of each house s roof. The bay of skaill did not exist at the time and skara brae was located in the middle of low grassland which ran out over the dunes to the ancient shoreline a few hundred metres away. Rhepanol hg was chosen to create a new watertight garden roof that blends in aesthetically and could be left undisturbed for up to 50 years.

With a total floor area of 36 square metres a skara brae house was actually quite spacious. After the site was abandoned it was buried beneath the sand which preserved the houses up to the full height of their walls. Skara brae was believed to have been destroyed by a sand storm in 1850 a huge storm hit the island which blew away the sand and allowed a little bit of the village to be seen.