Stonehenge and Skara Brae are both prehistoric works of architecture located in Europe. Why are they here, and why have they lasted so long?
Stonehenge is a structure located in England. Stonehenge is a collection of two different types of stone placed in a strategically patter, possibly a type of representation to those who built it. 
Stonehenge is known for the large stones made of sarsen, local sandstone harder than granite. These stones are over 20 feet high and weigh up to 45 tons. These stones are enormous, but how were they built?
Stonehenge uses a post and lintel system. A post is any of the vertical slabs that create the famous circle of Stonehenge. The lintels are the horizontal slabs that are places on top of these vertical posts. Using these two systems, the Stonehenge people created a circular structure out of these massive sarsen stones. These were not the only stones used in Stonehenge. There were smaller stones included within the circle of the sarsen stones. These stones are known as blue stones, which come from Wales, 150 miles away from the location of Stonehenge.
What is most surprising about Stonehenge is the formation of the stones. There is an outer circle of post and lintels, which create a nearly perfect circle, perfectly leveled within inches. Carved tongs and grooves, meaning they were carved to fit like a puzzle piece to create the rounded top, connected the lintels on the top. The pillars had carved crowns on the top, which were placed in the hollowed holes on the bottom of the lintels. This kept everything standing perfectly, lasting the hundreds of years that is has.
Another aspect of these enormous stones is the technical work, The shape and the smoothness of the stones is remarkable handy work of stone carvers. Making the crowns and hollows of the stones as well as the shape of the individual stone must have taken a long time to complete.
Skara Brae, also located in the United Kingdom, is a small village, unlike Stonehenge, which is not entirely known what it was used for. Sara Brae is located in Scotland, on the southern shore of the Bay o’ Skaill. There are eight dwellings connected by low passageways.
Each house in Skara Brae had a very similar design, there was a fire pit in the middle of the dwelling, there are stone beds that could have been soften with skins and furs, there was also an are that had a type of plumbing system that must have been used as a toilet. There are shelves in the home as well. These shelves could have held the belongings of the people who lived in the dwelling, but it could have also held the bones of the ancestors of those people.
What is truly remarkable about Skara Brae is the fact that the tiny village is carved into the ground rather than built above the ground. This could be for several reasons. One could be protection against invaders, making it easily defendable, or protection against the weather. Being so close to the shore, the water, and wind blowing sand must have been a daily issue that was solved by building down creating a natural barrier.
The one thing these two pieces have in common is the stonework. Stonehenge has very large stones that they worked with, using very intricate methods to produce the result of the structure that we see today. Sara Brae uses much smaller stones that were used as the walls of the homes. Looking at the stonework of Skara Brae, much time was put into the construction of the walls to keep them sturdy and to keep the warmth in the house.
These two architecture anomalies of Western Europe make historians and architects question how Neolithic life was. To see more on this subject there are links below on each structure.
Stonehenge: http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIy4JGAcDdk
Skara Brae: http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMnNzutU8h4
Skara Brae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0EiHHU4mPIhttp://
Leave a Reply