page_title: Architecture of Scotland
section_title: Prehistoric era
hierarchical_section_title: Architecture of Scotland / Prehistoric era
caption_attribution_description: English: Neolithic excavations at Skara Brae on Orkney in Scotland. Español: Skara Brae, Islas Orcadas, Escocia
context_page_description: The architecture of Scotland includes all human building within the modern borders of Scotland, from the Neolithic era to the present day. The earliest surviving houses go back around 9500 years, and the first villages 6000 years: Skara Brae on the Mainland of Orkney being the earliest preserved example in Europe. Crannogs, roundhouses, each built on an artificial island, date from the Bronze Age and stone buildings called Atlantic roundhouses and larger earthwork hill forts from the Iron Age. The arrival of the Romans from about 71 AD led to the creation of forts like that at Trimontium, and a continuous fortification between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde known as the Antonine Wall, built in the second century AD. Beyond Roman influence, there is evidence of wheelhouses and underground souterrains. After the departure of the Romans there were a series of nucleated hill forts, often utilising major geographical features, as at Dunadd and Dunbarton.
  Castles arrived in Scotland with the introduction of feudalism in the twelfth century. Initially these were wooden motte-and-bailey constructions, but many were replaced by stone castles with a high curtain wall.
context_section_description: Groups of settlers began building the first known permanent houses on what is now Scottish soil around 9500 years ago, and the first villages around 6000 years ago. The stone building at Knap of Howar at Papa Westray, Orkney is one of the oldest surviving houses in north-west Europe, making use of locally gathered rubble in a dry-stone construction. Skara Brae on the Mainland of Orkney also dates from this period and is Europe's most complete Neolithic village. Neolithic habitation, burial and ritual sites are particularly common and well-preserved in the Northern Isles and Western Isles, where a lack of trees led to most structures being built of local stone. From the Early and Middle Bronze Age we have evidence of the occupation of crannogs, roundhouses partially or entirely built on an artificial island, usually in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters. The peoples of early Iron Age Scotland, particularly in the north and west, lived in substantial stone buildings called Atlantic roundhouses. The remains of hundreds of these houses exist throughout the country, some merely piles of rubble, others with impressive towers and outbuildings. They date from about 800 BC to AD 300 with the most imposing structures having been created circa 200–100 BC. In the south and east larger earthwork hill forts survive. There is evidence for about 1,000 Iron Age hillforts in Scotland, most located below the Clyde-Forth line. They appear to have been largely abandoned in the Roman period, but some seem to have been reoccupied after their departure. Most are circular, with a single palisade around an enclosure.
caption: Skara Brae, a Neolithic settlement, located in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney.
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