was Skara Brae abandoned?

A common misconception, and one that continues to be promoted today, is that Skara Brae was abandoned overnight in the face of an apocalyptic disaster - an cataclysm that caused the inhabitants to flee.

This dramatic idea was originally proposed by Professor Gordon Childe, the archaeologist who excavated the village in 1928, and like a Northern Pompeii, it immediately caught the public's imagination.

However, in the light of modern techniques and thinking, Childe's theory has more or less been discounted.

Instead, it is now thought the fall of Skara Brae was simply because Neolithic society in Orkney was changing. This change brought about different ideas and a completely different set of values and way of life.

From the construction of the henge monuments at Brodgar and Stenness and the construction of Maeshowe, we can see the emergence of an elite ruling body who had the power to control the labour of a number of people.

With this development, the need for all-enclosed village communities disappeared - where once families depended on their tight-knit, little village communities they now were part of a larger, more widespread community, controlled by powerful tribal or spiritual leaders.

Over time families dispersed across the landscape, settling once again in single individual dwellings. As more and more of these younger people drifted from the villages they were not replaced.

So Skara Brae's demise was certainly not overnight.

It seems more likely that those who remained within the ancient village of Skara Brae gradually grew older and died.

With their passing their home and the home of the ancestors for over six centuries finally fell silent - silent save for the almost inaudible sounds of the encroaching sand.