A Late Neolithic butchery site in Orkney

Winter storms exposed a spread of animal bone and stone tools at Skaill Bay next to Skara Brae, Orkney. Most of the bone was of red deer and the stone tools were Skaill knives – flakes made from sandstone cobbles.

Skaill knives are made from sandstone beach cobbles. They are sharp enough to butcher deer carcases.

The site was exposed during winter storms and now it erodes further into the dunes

Here is the plan of the site showing the arcs and groups of Skaill knives around the deer bone . The butchering was carried out away from the main settlement at Skara Brae.

For a full story the publication by Richards et al ‘Containment, closure and red deer: a Late Neolithic butchery site at Skaill Bay, Orkney’ can be accessed here http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/psas/contents.cfm?vol=145&CFID=21074&CFTOKEN=A471F7F0-8509-425F-806BC5644BF9B949