P number: | P000525 |
---|---|
Old photograph number: | C03235 |
Caption: | Skara Brae, located at the Bay of Skaill on mainland Orkney and thought to be c. 5000 years old, is one of the earliest known farming settlements in Britain. |
Description: | The houses follow the same basic layout and are constructed from local flagstone, which is readily available and easily workable. This view shows the dresser, which faces the door in each house, dominating the interior; and a stone tank set into the floor, known as a 'limpet box', which was sealed with clay and used to soak bait. The settlement has been well-preserved by the midden structures into which it was built, and which grew up around it; and by the sand which filled up and buried the village after its abandonment. The site was first exposed by a great storm in 1850. Its exposed situation today is the result of marine erosion and is very different from its original setting, which would have been amid fertile grassland, well back from the sea. |
Date taken: | Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 BST 1930 |
Photographer: | Strachan, W.E.J. |
Copyright statement: | Crown |
Acknowledgment: | This image was digitized with grant-in-aid from SCRAN the Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network |
X longitude/easting: | 318500 |
Y latitude/northing: | 1023500 |
Coordinate reference system, ESPG code: | 27700 (OSGB 1936 / British National Grid) |
Orientation: | Landscape |
Size: | 224.74 KB; 1000 x 721 pixels; 85 x 61 mm (print at 300 DPI); 265 x 191 mm (screen at 96 DPI); |
Average Rating: | Not yet rated |
Categories: | Best of BGS Images/ Images from the archives |
Reviews
There is currently no feedback