7 replies to this topic

[shiny]

Over the past few months, I've learned something about dry-stone walling by seeing Bettina's photos and following the correspondence in Stone Pages concerning the debacle at Grianan of Aileach Fort.

Now, instead of just seeing a pile of stones which makes up a wall. I look at dry-stone walling with a slightly more knowledgeable eye.

The other day, because of the vandalism at Skara Brae, I was drawn to the Stone Pages 360 degree imaging of the site:

  http://www.stonepage...rabraeqtvr.html

Looking around, I noticed the differences between sections of the walling, and wondered whether any of the walls have been rebuilt since the village was rediscovered in the 19th century, or am I seeing the results of different peoples handiwork 5,000 years ago??

[Bettina]

Shiny,
from what I can see, I would say that Skara Brae is very much a purpose orientated building. My understanding is, that what looks like a cross window is basically your kitchen cupboard. Storage space was integrated into the wall. Since the house was occupied from about 3100 BC to 2450 BC, it is likely, that it  was improved or extended with growing confidence in their skills and changing needs.
A very impressive example of craftsmanship. I doubt very much, that the house I live in, would last that long or the work carried out by the Office of Public Works at Grianan Aileach for this matter.
And you are right. I also find, that I appreciate the beauty and skills far more now then I did before.

[ocd]

shiny/bettina

The principles and methods of dry stone walling are easy to learn.

The skill of some dry stone wallers can be called art.

Walling is done on a price per metre, the cheapest ain't necessarily the best.

There are some walls in west penwith past Penzance that are supposedly in excess of 4000 years old. Old cornish hedges have been repaired by more than one person, obviously. If you get an eye for it you can see the different techniques used by individual builders.

From a conservation point of view this type of structure supports a lot of wildlife, animal aswell as plant life. Nicer to look at than a post and rail fence.

ocd

[shiny]

Just thinking....................Dry stone walling isn't exactly wind-proof or watertight, so how did they keep the elements out at Skara Brae?

[Anew]

shiny, on 29 December 2007, 9:14, said:

Just thinking....................Dry stone walling isn't exactly wind-proof or watertight, so how did they keep the elements out at Skara Brae?

Shiny, the following may interest you:

Wikipedia on Skara Brae
Wikipedia on Earth Sheltering

I imagine the walls may have seeped a bit

[Bettina]

I am not sure about seeping. These old walls might have been pretty much water tight. Grianan never had a roof. But there was no water leaking through the walls before work started in 2000. I believe the best example to find out would be Skellig Micheal in Kerry.

Section from the BBC show "Coast" showing Skellig Michael on youtube
Skellig Michael from Wikipedia
Skellig Michael Island
The Forgotten Hermitage of Skellig Michael

[shiny]

I've just been watching a Youtube video about the people who built Skara Brae. In it, it's claimed that the village was built into a midden of discarded seashells mixed with clay.  (Pagans part 1, 5-00 minutes in).

I thought that the midden grew up around the houses, and it's the first time I've heard of the seashells being mixed with clay.

If this is true, then the houses would have a top notch level of waterproofing and insulation.



  

    

Thanks to Kevin B.

[Maju]

AFAIK, many clays used in pottery, at least Neolithic pottery, used some sort of material to "unoil" (proper English?) the clay, mixed with it. This often could be some sort of calcareous material as seashell powder. So really I'm not surprised by that finding. (Though I'm not actually sure how modern pottery solves that issue).

Also, in my real life experience with old stone houses that did not use any sort of concrete or similar (a shepherd's house or "borda" in the Pyrenees actually), the stones were indeed sealed and reinforced with mud (clay? unsure because all we found was old earthy dust) in any case. Any leaking there could be was due to deterioration in the roof and just that - the walls were as effective insulators as one could expect.