Storms Are an Old, Old Story

EDITOR'S NOTE: While we are still assessing the damage of Hurricane Ivan in the Synod of Living Waters, consider what a long ago storm uncovered in the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland at Scara Brae, a World Heritage Site visited this summer by a group from the Synod.

In the winter of 1850 a wild storm stripped the grass from the high dune known as Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill on mainland Orkney. An immense midden or refuse heap was uncovered. So too were the ruins of ancient dwellings. What came to light in that storm proved to be the best preserved Neolithic village in northern Europe. And it remains that today.

Not only were stone walls preserved, tables, beds,
chairs and cabinets made of stone are still intact.

The village of Skara Brae was inhabited before the Egyptian pyramids were built, and flourished many centuries before construction began at Stonehenge. It is some 5000 years old.

Presbyterians from the Synod who were amazed at Scara Brae, from
left rear: Tom Neely from Huntsville, AL, Dean Shupe from
Florence, KY, and David Steele from Louisville, KY .

But it is not its age alone that makes it so remarkable and so important. It is the degree to which it has been preserved. The structures of this semi-subterranean village survive in impressive condition. And so, amazingly, does the furniture in the village houses. Nowhere else in northern Europe are we able to see such rich evidence of how our remote ancestors actually lived.

The profound importance of this remarkable site was given official recognition in 1999 when it was inscribed upon the World Heritage List as part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

Source: Historic Scotland
Photos by Jane Hines