Off the north coast of Scotland, Orkney’s soft green landscapes hold a trove of things from everyday life before history was written.
More than 3,000 archaeological sites — among them standing stone circles, Norse halls and a Neolithic tomb graffitied by Vikings — have endured for millenniums, scattered across the roughly 70 islands that make up the Orkney archipelago.
At Skara Brae, one of Europe’s best-preserved Stone Age villages, kitchens built around 3180 B.C. are fitted with hearths and cupboards, bedsteads and doors that could be bolted shut.
Today, in forays to remote spits of land, people are working to save some of these places for posterity from the climate changes accelerated by human activity.
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