Page 20 Macbeath


From:- The Orkneys in Early Celtic Times, Two Lectures, by James M. Macbeath, published by William Peace and Son, in 1892.


Page 20

Man's first home would be the natural caves and dens he could find in his wanderings; but as these are few he would soon have to betake himself to the construction of such rude and primitive huts as his resources enabled him to fabricate. Tactics furnished us with a description of their type among the Germans. "As caves dug in the earth, in which they laid up their grain,and whether they retired in the winter, or in the advance of an enemy to plunder the open country".

Julius Ceasar describes the dwellings of the ancient Romans as similar to those of the Gauls, and these we learn from Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, "were constructed of wood, of a circular form, and with lofty tapering rooves of straw or coarse grass".

Sir R. Coalt Hoare, in his work on Ancient Wiltshire rematks:- We have undoubtedly proof from history and from existing remains that the earlier inhabitations were pits or slight excavations into the ground, covered and protected from the inclemency of the weather by boughs of trees and sods of earth".


More about the migration of neolithic people to Orkney, in the Orkney Riddle 


#neolithic #prehistory #archaeology #Orkney #Scotland #Brodgar #skarabrae 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Westrays

Image
  Orkney Riddle The Westrays   The Knap of Howar Probably the earliest settlement on the Orkney Archipelago is the Knap of Howar. A Pig bone was found there dated to 3630–3360 (OxA-17778)  The Knap of Howar sits on a small island called Papa Westray which is one of the northernmost islands of the Orkney group. The island is almost 7 km long and 2 km wide, and the Knap of Howar lies on its west coast.  Papa Westray is one of a group of islands that are separated from the mainland Orkney group by the Westray and Stronsay Firths. The main islands of this group are Westray, Papa Westray, Sanday, North Ronaldsay, and Stronsay.  The two oblong buildings of the Knap of Howar, are thought to represent a dwelling-house and a multipurpose workshop-cum-barn, built side by side with an interconnecting passage allowing access from one to the other.  Excavation revealed traces of a central hearth, footings for wooden benches and post-holes for roof-supports. A stone quer...
Read more

Skara Brae, Childe’s Excavation

Image
  The Orkney Riddle Skara Brae Childe’s Excavation  Skara Brae, one of the most perfectly preserved Stone Age villages in Europe, which was covered for hundreds of years by a sand dune on the shore of the Bay of Skaill, Mainland, Orkney Islands, Scotland. Exposed by a great storm in 1850, four buildings were excavated during the 1860s by William Watt. After another storm in 1926, further excavations were undertaken by the Ancient Monuments branch of the British Ministry of Works. During the 1970s radiocarbon dating established that the settlement was inhabited from about 3200 to 2200 bce. In 1999, as part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney, Skara Brae was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, along with Maes Howe, a large chambered tomb, as well as two ceremonial stone circles, the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar. (Britannica) Structure 7 (above) is the most complete building found at Skara Brae. It’s condition is preserved, and it is barred from public access. A...
Read more

Walkable Land in the North Sea

Image
 The Orkney Riddle Walkable Land in the North Sea There is an area of shallow sea that links Holland with East Anglia. It is likely that this passage would have provided walkable land between England and Holland until a time when Neolithic people were exploring Northern Europe.  The bathymetry chart above indicates this broad area of shallow water joining Lincolnshire, and Norfolk, in England to Holland. Elsewhere, to the south of this region deep water gullies would have prevented any migration by animals, people, or plants. The Norfolk Banks (above) are a series of ridges on the floor of the North Sea, beside the Norfolk coast. Detailed chart, above shows bathymetry of ridges and troughs of the Norfolk   The location of this section of the Norfolk Banks, above, is indicated on the plan above it. The main features of the Norfolk Banks that can be seen in the plan and section are as follows  1- the high ridges of these banks are parallel to each other.  2- the...
Read more