Skara Brae's remarkable survival through the ages is thanks to the design of the original builders who buried the stone-slab walls up to roof level in clay soil and waste material in order to provide insulation and protection from the elements. Such a tightly knit and communal village life was unusual in these early farming communities, individual farmsteads being preferred, but Skara Brae seems to have been a very close community with little room for non-conformists.
Every house has the same layout for roughly a family-sized living space.
Upon entry to any of the houses, one has to crouch through a small doorway which would have been blocked by a slab of stone and possibly barred as well. This shows that security was important to the dwellers, but that privacy for the family unit was also very important. The layout of Skara Brae, whilst being very much geared towards a community settlement, makes this type of privacy possible. Inside, each house has a large floor space with a central hearth where no doubt the fire was always burning. Since the main source of timber on Orkney was driftwood from the forests of North America, most of the furniture was made of stone and has survived well leaving many clues to these people's lifestyles.