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Mock Transcript on Skara Brae

Skara Brae is a significant Neolithic settlement in Orkney, Scotland, discovered in 1850 after a storm exposed its structures. Excavations revealed well-preserved homes and artifacts, leading to insights about the community's lifestyle and social organization. The site faces ongoing threats from coastal erosion and visitor impact, highlighting issues of ownership and custodianship.

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12 views

Mock Transcript on Skara Brae

Skara Brae is a significant Neolithic settlement in Orkney, Scotland, discovered in 1850 after a storm exposed its structures. Excavations revealed well-preserved homes and artifacts, leading to insights about the community's lifestyle and social organization. The site faces ongoing threats from coastal erosion and visitor impact, highlighting issues of ownership and custodianship.

Uploaded by

Khanso
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Model Transcript for Year 11 Ancient History

The modelling of this site for purposes of demonstration means it cannot


be your choice.

Skara Brae
Ms Makepeace

A visual to inform your audience. It might be one of the minimum 8 needed.


Part 2: How was the site discovered?
Skara Brae was a Neolithic Stone Age village that lay hidden for centuries
beneath a sand dune on the shore of the Bay of Skaill, in the Orkney Islands of
north-east Scotland. In its lifetime, Skara Brae became embedded in its own
rubbish. Because it was built on a midden which acted as insulation, the eight
homes would have been relatively warm and comfortable. However, the village
was gradually abandoned. Rather than it being discovered by someone, Skara
Brae was found accidentally at the hands of Mother Nature The site was
unearthed in a violent storm in 1850 when wind and tides stripped the soil from
a mound to reveal underground structures. The landowner and local laird,
William Watt, noticed the exposed stone walls. Intrigued, he began excavations,
on and off.
131 words.
Placement of this information in cells and the transcribing of the question parts is
simply to show students how each request of the task is being met. There is no
need to format in this manner.
DO NOT offer a word count for each section, just a final total at the end.

Part 2: What was found, in what condition and how was the excavation
conducted?
By 1868, the remains of four ancient houses had been unearthed. Because
of the protection offered by the sand that covered the settlement, the buildings
and their contents were very well preserved. Then, work was abandoned.
Thereafter, the settlement was gradually covered by a drifting wall of sand,
such as what had hidden it from sight for over 40 centuries.
The site remained undisturbed until 1924 when another storm damaged
some of the previously excavated structures. A sea-wall was built to preserve
the remains but during the construction work, yet more ancient buildings were
discovered. Excavation work between 1928 and 1931 revealed the eight
dwellings we see today. Each house shared the same basic design - a large
square room, with a central fireplace, a bed on either side and a shelved
dresser on the wall opposite the doorway. Rooms demonstrating differences
such as House Eight with carvings on the wall. In the 1920s. The excavators
found the floor littered with fragments of chert and debris from the
manufacture of tools. This and the apparent increase in storage space, led to
the interpretation that the building was a workshop.
188 words
The paragraphs above focus on what was found and in what state.
Excavation was led by V Gordon Childe, an Australian archaeologist, who
cooperated with the representatives of the Office of Works. He loathed digging
but excavated carefully, acknowledging the work of every digger involved in
the process of carefully examining and cataloguing the site. His book, Skara
Brae: A Pictish Village in Orkney (1931) was a masterclass on how to
communicate archaeological findings to a wide audience even though the title
would be proven to be incorrect as Skara Brae was not an Iron Age settlement.
His conclusions were supported by close examination of his discoveries. For
example, Childe discovered beads and paint within smaller beds on the left of
houses which led him to speculate that women used the smaller beds in a
domestic area, while men took the larger beds found on the right in a male
zone of each house. The idea of the village being like a commune was also
proposed by Chile, but that may have reflected the excavator’ own communist
leanings.

166 words
Above are details on how the excavation was conducted.

Part 3: Indicate what scientific work/advances have helped to reconstruct


the past and assist in interpreting the lives of people of that site.
The original calculation of Skara Brae being an Iron Age settlement,
dating around 500 BC, was not the case. Radiocarbon dating in the early 1970’s
confirmed that the settlement dated from the late Neolithic Age, inhabited from
around 60o years, between 3200 BC and 2200 BC.
During its lifetime, the village would have been some distance from the
sea. It was once thought that a freshwater lagoon lay between the village and
the Neolithic coastline. Geophysical investigations by the Quaternary Society
revealed that although the lagoon existed, by the time of Skara Brae’s
construction, it had dried up, leaving an area of open grassland. Dietary items
from local farming have been determined by biochemical analysis.
Weakened structures were subjected to extensive environmental
monitoring. Experts conceded that a metal and glass roof fitted in 1930, should
be replaced with a lightweight timber structure supporting a hydroponic mat
roof with planted sedum grass. Such a roof would stabilise the climate inside
the room below, preventing potentially salt-laden moisture migrations and
creating a safe environment inside.
174 words
Instances of science at work in helping historians, attempting preservation and
interpreting the original lifestyle.

Part 4 Outline any issues of ownership and custodianship of your chosen site.
Skara Brae was originally on private land and its excavation was at the
hands of the local laird, William Watt. When the full profile of the site was
completed, it was judged important enough to be protected, hence it became
Heritage listed.
Following Watt’s work, the elements that exposed the site to the world
have proved to be a great problem. Because of the infamous erosion, Skara
Brae now stands right by the shore of the Bay of Skaill. The village remains
under constant threat by coastal erosion and the onslaught of the sand and
sea. In addition, the increasing number of visitors to the site annually are
causing problems. Steps are being taken to alleviate or minimise this damage.
The idea that Skara Brae was unknown until uncovered by the storm of
1850 was refuted by Orcadian historian, Dr Ernest Marwick. In an article in The
Orcadian newspaper in 1967, He said,” In his Observations made in A Tour of the
islands of Orkney and Shetland in the year 1769, James Robertson wrote of the
square catacombs in the Downs of Skaill and said that in one, a skeleton was
found in one hand and a Danish axe in the other.” 202 words

Research shows # the change in ownership from private to international.


# an ongoing threat for custodians maintaining the site.
# academic debate on the date of knowledge arising.

Part 5:
Two paragraphs - discuss the significance of your ancient site to historians’
understanding of its culture.

Skara Brae was regarded as being so significant it was made a World


Heritage listed Neolithic settlement. Dating from around 3000 BC, it was a
community housing up to 100 residents before the pyramids were built. Not
only are the walls of the structures still standing and alleyways roofed with their
original stone slabs, but the interior fittings of each house give an unparalleled
glimpse of life as it was in Neolithic Orkney.
Human remains have been found in circumstances that have prompted
many hypotheses from historians about possible rituals. Standardised houses
with different artefacts prompt continuing speculation about room usage and
suggestions about equality among those in this close-knit community. Debate
continues as to the significance of household items found in a bid to profile
social roles. Although no weaving apparatus has been found, a remarkably
sophisticated drainage system was incorporated into the village’s design which
may have included an early form of toilet facilities. Skara Brae remains an
insightful study of a society’s home for over six centuries.
170 words
Total words: 1031.
Visuals might include:
a)​ A map to show location
b)​ A longshot and/or an aerial shot of the setting (as above)
c)​ A close-up of village buildings externally, internally or both
d)​ A primary source that denotes chronological context.
e)​ A portrait of Childe being the supervisor on site.
f)​ A sample of artefact(s) found, perhaps in Museums now.
g)​ An artist’s sketched impression of lifestyle at the site
h)​ An image of how the site is presented today.
1.​ A reference list of the sites/sources you have used, including the ones for
your visuals.
2.​ Separate to your Virtual Museum, you are to submit a transcript which
includes your reference list, correctly formatted in Harvard style.
Two of your sources are to be annotated, indicating their value. A model
transcript and a ‘Virtual Museum’ scaffold will be provided.

TASK INSTRUCTIONS:
Audio visual time allocation is 6-7 minutes. Load both your presentation and
transcript onto the Google Classroom. (A suggested word count is 900-1000
words).

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