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The Neolithic village of Skara Brae was inhabited for some six centuries, starting over 5000 years ago, meaning that it is older than the Pyramids of Egypt and most ancient Greek and Roman sites. It consists of a number of single-roomed houses linked by a roofed passage so that the occupants could move around under shelter. One building, however, may have been used as a workshop. The site is significant because it shows how ordinary people lived rather than being a structure devoted to ceremonial purposes, like a temple.

Each house has a central hearth and a cupboard built of stone slabs. Various recesses line the walls of each house, possibly used as sleeping accommodation or storage. Some have drains, and may have been used as latrines.

The village was surrounded by farmland, and the villagers grew crops and kept livestock. They also had time for creative activities, such as making jewellery and pottery.

The excellent state of preservation of the site is because it was buried under sand for millennia, until exposed again by a storm in 1850.