h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Skara Brae, part of The Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site - A2735057
Author: Frenchbean <4 stars> Life's like a dance. The music changes and then, who knows? - U236943

Hello Peerers

This entry is one of three - a triptych - based on The Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, all of which I'm submitting to PR at the same time.

Skara Brae - A2735057
The Ring of Brodgar - A2735075
Maes Howe - A2735039

Each entry stands on its own, but they inter-relate. To have submitted them as one huge entry would have been too much I think. But I'll be interested to have your views, as ever.

Subs and Eds Given that the three entries are so interlinked, I would be *ever* so grateful if they could go through the EG process together. And possibly end up on the front page together? Such presumption

In the meantime, comments and questions all welcomed


Fb

Hi This is fab as well, obviously. Look I'm not rational about this ok!

I was wondering if they should all be called Skara Brae (or other place), Orkney, Scotland, rather than mentioning in the Orkney World Heritage Site in the title?

Just a thought!

Like the entry - I'll go & read the others next!

I visited Skara Brae a couple of years ago - I'm glad people can no longer wander in & out of the houses because think it was better to be able to look down into them & see them empty rather than filled with modern sightseers. Something that stuck in my mind was the guide pointing out the shortness of the beds & telling us that it wasn't because they were small people, but that they slept semi-sitting, facing the door, in case of intruders.

Just a couple of corrections - in the section 'What do you see'.
Missing letter - filled in 'w'ith turfs.
Wrong punctutation - should be semi-colon instead of colon - 'made from stone; certainly'.

Hi Frenchbean,

Great entry! My entry on the Storegga tsunamis gives another possible explanation to the places abandonment, although these tsunamis predate the site considerably. Still though, I was able to uncover the following link which asks some questions...

http://www.earth-pages.com/archive/environmental.asp

Oh, also your link is bad for Scottish History, and there is a BBC link worth adding.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/scotland/skara_brae.shtml

Woodpigeon

Hello Woodpigeon

Thank you!

I don't understand the fault with the link to Historic Scotland - it's coming up as a h2g2 link, although in GuideML I've got it as an HREF link. Can anybody unravel that one? I need to go check Maes Howe and Ring of Brodgar to see if there's the same problem there

Thanks for the other links - I'll check them out later. I don't want to fill it with links though

Z I'm reluctant to change the title, because the whole point of writing three entries at once is that they're part of the same World Heritage Site

Teaswill The thing about the people sitting up in bed goes against the assertion that this was a peaceful society And how do they *know* that they sat up in bed? Thanks for the typos - to make amendments


Fb

Aha! The Historic Scotland link now works, thanks to Gnomon

rubbers -- perhaps add a footnote explaining that this word means 'erasers', since 'rubber' means 'condom' in America.

Footnote 5 on 36m2 looks like 36m25 which is confusing. If you could reword the sentence so that it doesn't end with a digit, you could put the footnote on the last word.

millenia --> millennia

atomosphere --> atmosphere

ancient form of barely --> ancient form of barley

Thanks Gnomon: I've amended typos and shifted footnote 5 soe that it doesn't clash with an area.

I would never have thought of the rubber/condom thing

Fb

erasures --> erasers

I was trying to get the edits done in my lunchbreak - and running out of time fast!

It was normal up to about the 18th century in Ireland for people to sleep sitting up in bed. Beds in old houses were usually only about 5 feet long. People lay propped up with pillows. It wasn't anything to do with intruders. It may have been to do with the number of chest infections, though. It is easier to cough without waking yourself up if you are propped up.

Gnomon, you are a mine of surprising information!

A few improvements Fb

"who charge visitors to visit the site and conduct guided tours"
That makes it sound as if HS are charging visitors to conduct guided tours themselves, which I'm sure isn't the case How about 'It is owned and run by Historic Scotland, who impose a charge to visit the site and who conduct guided tours'?

"for scampering around, over and through"
Now, I know that thee, me, and Gnomon have had this discussion before, but this is one instance where I believe a comma before the 'and' would clarify a sentence. But I'll say no more

"the village was larger than this and other houses were less protected by sand inundation"
That feels like it's lacking some punctuation and a few words - 'the village was larger than this when inhabited, and that the other houses have been lost to sand inundation'.

"the houses would have been dark: lit only by the fires"
I think a comma rather than a colon would work better there.

"have a substantial cupboards"

Thank you Gosho Good comments and I've made changes accordingly

A pox on your commas! I'm not getting into that debate again


Fb

Very good entry - well thought-out and organized. I enjoyed reading it. Off to read the others.

Wot? No typos Emee?

I've completed giving both metric and empirical measurements

Any more for any more?


Fb

I wonder if all the Scouts are in Orkney, checking out these great sites?

Fb

I wish.