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The Mystery of Skara Brae: Neolithic Scotland and the Origins of Ancient Egypt
An investigation of the origins of the Neolithic farming village on Orkney Island
• Reveals the striking similarities between Skara Brae and the traditions of pre-dynastic ancient Egypt as preserved by the Dogon people of Mali
• Explains how megalithic stone sites near Skara Brae conform to Dogon cosmology
• Examines the similarities between Skara Brae and Gobekli Tepe and how Skara Brae may have been a secondary center of learning for the ancient world
In 3200 BC, Orkney Island off the coast of Northern Scotland was home to a small farming village called Skara Brae. For reasons unknown, after nearly six centuries of continuous habitation, the village was abandoned around 2600 BC and its stone structures covered over--perhaps deliberately, like the structures at Gobekli Tepe. Although now well-excavated, very little is known about the peaceful people who lived at Skara Brae or their origins. Who were they and where did they go?
Drawing on his in-depth knowledge of the connections between the cosmology and linguistics of Egyptian, Dogon, Chinese, and Vedic traditions, Laird Scranton reveals the striking similarities between Skara Brae and the Dogon of Mali, who still practice the same cosmology and traditions they once shared with pre-dynastic Egypt. He shows how the earliest Skara Brae houses match the typical Dogon stone house as well as Schwaller de Lubicz’s intrepretation of the Egyptian Temple of Man at Luxor. He explains how megalithic stone sites near Skara Brae conform to Dogon cosmology, each representing sequential stages of creation as described by Dogon priests, and he details how the houses at Skara Brae also represent a concept of creation. Citing a linguistic phenomenon known as “ultraconserved words,” the author compares words of the Faroese language at Skara Brae, a language with no known origin, with important cosmological words from Dogon and ancient Egyptian traditions, finding obvious connections and similarities.
Scranton shows how the cultivated field alongside the village of Skara Brae corresponds to the “heavenly field” symbolism pervasive throughout many ancient cultures, such as the Field of Reeds of the ancient Egyptians and the Elysian Fields of ancient Greece. He demonstrates how Greek and Egyptian geographic descriptions of these fields are a consistent match with Orkney Island. Examining the similarities between Skara Brae and Gobekli Tepe, Scranton reveals that Skara Brae may have been a secondary center of initiation and civilizing knowledge, a long-lost Egyptian mystery school set up millennia after Gobekli Tepe was ritually buried, and given the timing of the site, is possibly the source of the first pharaohs and priests of ancient Egypt.
• Reveals the striking similarities between Skara Brae and the traditions of pre-dynastic ancient Egypt as preserved by the Dogon people of Mali
• Explains how megalithic stone sites near Skara Brae conform to Dogon cosmology
• Examines the similarities between Skara Brae and Gobekli Tepe and how Skara Brae may have been a secondary center of learning for the ancient world
In 3200 BC, Orkney Island off the coast of Northern Scotland was home to a small farming village called Skara Brae. For reasons unknown, after nearly six centuries of continuous habitation, the village was abandoned around 2600 BC and its stone structures covered over--perhaps deliberately, like the structures at Gobekli Tepe. Although now well-excavated, very little is known about the peaceful people who lived at Skara Brae or their origins. Who were they and where did they go?
Drawing on his in-depth knowledge of the connections between the cosmology and linguistics of Egyptian, Dogon, Chinese, and Vedic traditions, Laird Scranton reveals the striking similarities between Skara Brae and the Dogon of Mali, who still practice the same cosmology and traditions they once shared with pre-dynastic Egypt. He shows how the earliest Skara Brae houses match the typical Dogon stone house as well as Schwaller de Lubicz’s intrepretation of the Egyptian Temple of Man at Luxor. He explains how megalithic stone sites near Skara Brae conform to Dogon cosmology, each representing sequential stages of creation as described by Dogon priests, and he details how the houses at Skara Brae also represent a concept of creation. Citing a linguistic phenomenon known as “ultraconserved words,” the author compares words of the Faroese language at Skara Brae, a language with no known origin, with important cosmological words from Dogon and ancient Egyptian traditions, finding obvious connections and similarities.
Scranton shows how the cultivated field alongside the village of Skara Brae corresponds to the “heavenly field” symbolism pervasive throughout many ancient cultures, such as the Field of Reeds of the ancient Egyptians and the Elysian Fields of ancient Greece. He demonstrates how Greek and Egyptian geographic descriptions of these fields are a consistent match with Orkney Island. Examining the similarities between Skara Brae and Gobekli Tepe, Scranton reveals that Skara Brae may have been a secondary center of initiation and civilizing knowledge, a long-lost Egyptian mystery school set up millennia after Gobekli Tepe was ritually buried, and given the timing of the site, is possibly the source of the first pharaohs and priests of ancient Egypt.
- GenresNonfictionHistory
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
21 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Laird Scranton
28 books54 followersHe is an independent software designer who became interested in Dogon mythology and symbolism in the early 1990s. He has studied ancient myth, language, and cosmology since 1997 and has been a lecturer at Colgate University. He also appears in John Anthony West’s Magical Egypt DVD series.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 29, 2017
I bought this book hoping to learn something about Skara Brae. I only made it to page 22, when I couldn't take anymore of the nonsense. The author desperately tries to tie the building of Skara Brae to the Dogons of Africa through the Egyptians. The author claims to be a cosmologist. I don't think he knows what that word means.
June 14, 2019
I read Laird Scranton’s book “The Science of the Dogon – Decoding the African Mystery”. This was my first introduction to the author and his works. I must say I was mighty impressed by his research, presentation and theories. I resolved that I would read his other works on ancient cosmology and language series viz. ‘Sacred Symbols of the Dogon’, ‘The Cosmological Origins of Myth and Symbol’, ‘China’s Cosmological Prehistory’, and ‘Point of Origin’. I still have not read them but will soon do so.
Browsing through various e-books, I chanced upon ‘The Mystery of Skara Brae’ and started reading it about a fortnight back. And as stated I cannot fault Scranton’s scholarship, research, presentation and theories.
The idea that Orkney Islands are the Elysian Fields of Grecian Myths / Field of Reeds of Ancient Egyptian lore is very well argued and supported. The similarities between the structures in Skara Brae, and Dogon Village, between the layout fields, etc do point to a common point of origin. Scranton’s premise is that the point of origin is Gobekli Tepe in Anotolia which dates to the end of the last Ice Age circa 10,000 BCE. The archaic religious and cosmological practices from China in the East to Iceland in the West, from Scandinavia in the North to Peru in the South. The cosmological roots are apparent in Egypt, Mali, Tibet and India too.
I am an Indian, living in India and a practising Hindu. As a matter of interest I have studied Hindu Scriptures and culture. I definitely am not as widely or deeply read as Scranton regarding ancient Indian Cosmology, but being well aware of ancient Indian History, I have certain different views on some of Scranton’s views on the elephant headed God Ganesha and the Goddess by whatever name known.
The archaic Indian tradition begins a very long time back, probably the seventh or eighth millennium BCE. The Indian sub-continent was populated by Dravidians, whose language was an archaic form of Tamil spoken in the Presidency of Madras (now comprising of the states of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala). Tamil language is known to have existed for at least 5,000 years (circa 3,000 BCE) and the culture was known as Sangam Culture. Around 4,000 years ago (circa 2,000 – 1800 BCE) waves of immigrants from Anatolia (present day Turkey) and other nearby countries came to India. They had superior military equipment and skills and as more and more of their numbers came they displaced the local populace, driving them further south in the sub-continent. The language of these migrants popularly known as Aryans was Sanskrit, the language in which most Hindu scriptures and ancient texts are written. Sanskrit language finds many similarities with languages of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and countries around Caucus range.
In this book Scranton frequently refers to his other book ‘Point Of Origin’ (which I have not yet read) and his elucidation of the Elephant headed Hindu God Ganesha. In Tamil Ganesha is referred to as Pillayar, which Scranton analysing the phonetic roots, states that the term Pilu means elephant and also son, and ar has connections to Dogon and Egyptian Cosmology. Scranton also states that the eight incarnations of the dancing elephant Ganesha in India were shown to reflect symbolism that is a match for the eight progressive stages of the po pilu, as defined in Dogon cosmology. From one perspective in India, Ganesha is the son of the goddess Sati. He was created from clay as a kind of toy doll, granted consciousness so that he could become a real boy, mistakenly beheaded by the god Siva, and then granted a new head, that of a white elephant. In the Tamil language of India, the word pilu means “elephant” and “son.” For the Dogon, it means “white.” In the Turkish language, the word for “elephant” is rendered as fil. By comparison, the Icelandic word for “elephant” is fil, while in the Faroese language, the word for “elephant” is filur. The Faroese word fil means “rank, order, or series,” terms that are appropriate to Ganesha, who through his eight incarnations symbolizes this reordering of matter. From this same perspective of the story of Ganesha and the reordering of matter, the Faroese word filt means “perceived,” “sensed,” and “conscious.”
For reasons that are cosmological in nature, Ganesha is sometimes pictured as having only one spear-like tusk. In some traditions, the arrow is considered to be an icon of Ganesha, or sometimes of his goddess mother. In some languages, the term for “arrow” or “tusk” is rendered as pille, a phoneme that, in the mindset of our cosmology, implies “elephant.” So it makes sense that the Faroese word pilur means “arrow, dart, barb, spear, javelin.”
My knowledge of Tamil accepts the meaning of Pilu as son, but not as elephant.
Similarly Scranton analyzes the term Purana – “Our outlook is that the word puran is formed from the roots per, meaning “structure,” and an, which means “offering,” and, like the Orkney Island structures, implies progressive stages of creation.” However ‘Purana’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ancient and in Sanskrit the full term is ‘Itihaasa Purana’ or History (Itihaasa) Ancient (Purana) i.e. Ancient History. The Hindu belief is that the Puranas narrate ancient history. All Puranas are in the format of a dialogue between a seeker and teacher – much like the Dogon Initiates. The initiates had to ask questions which the senior priest would answer. And here Scranton hits the mark, in so far as Purana is a ‘structured offering’ of archaic knowledge.
Barring this slight difference of opinion the book’s scholarship, research, presentation and theories are acceptable and beautifully elucidated. For the readers of ancient histories, this book should be part of the ‘must read’ list.
Browsing through various e-books, I chanced upon ‘The Mystery of Skara Brae’ and started reading it about a fortnight back. And as stated I cannot fault Scranton’s scholarship, research, presentation and theories.
The idea that Orkney Islands are the Elysian Fields of Grecian Myths / Field of Reeds of Ancient Egyptian lore is very well argued and supported. The similarities between the structures in Skara Brae, and Dogon Village, between the layout fields, etc do point to a common point of origin. Scranton’s premise is that the point of origin is Gobekli Tepe in Anotolia which dates to the end of the last Ice Age circa 10,000 BCE. The archaic religious and cosmological practices from China in the East to Iceland in the West, from Scandinavia in the North to Peru in the South. The cosmological roots are apparent in Egypt, Mali, Tibet and India too.
I am an Indian, living in India and a practising Hindu. As a matter of interest I have studied Hindu Scriptures and culture. I definitely am not as widely or deeply read as Scranton regarding ancient Indian Cosmology, but being well aware of ancient Indian History, I have certain different views on some of Scranton’s views on the elephant headed God Ganesha and the Goddess by whatever name known.
The archaic Indian tradition begins a very long time back, probably the seventh or eighth millennium BCE. The Indian sub-continent was populated by Dravidians, whose language was an archaic form of Tamil spoken in the Presidency of Madras (now comprising of the states of Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala). Tamil language is known to have existed for at least 5,000 years (circa 3,000 BCE) and the culture was known as Sangam Culture. Around 4,000 years ago (circa 2,000 – 1800 BCE) waves of immigrants from Anatolia (present day Turkey) and other nearby countries came to India. They had superior military equipment and skills and as more and more of their numbers came they displaced the local populace, driving them further south in the sub-continent. The language of these migrants popularly known as Aryans was Sanskrit, the language in which most Hindu scriptures and ancient texts are written. Sanskrit language finds many similarities with languages of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and countries around Caucus range.
In this book Scranton frequently refers to his other book ‘Point Of Origin’ (which I have not yet read) and his elucidation of the Elephant headed Hindu God Ganesha. In Tamil Ganesha is referred to as Pillayar, which Scranton analysing the phonetic roots, states that the term Pilu means elephant and also son, and ar has connections to Dogon and Egyptian Cosmology. Scranton also states that the eight incarnations of the dancing elephant Ganesha in India were shown to reflect symbolism that is a match for the eight progressive stages of the po pilu, as defined in Dogon cosmology. From one perspective in India, Ganesha is the son of the goddess Sati. He was created from clay as a kind of toy doll, granted consciousness so that he could become a real boy, mistakenly beheaded by the god Siva, and then granted a new head, that of a white elephant. In the Tamil language of India, the word pilu means “elephant” and “son.” For the Dogon, it means “white.” In the Turkish language, the word for “elephant” is rendered as fil. By comparison, the Icelandic word for “elephant” is fil, while in the Faroese language, the word for “elephant” is filur. The Faroese word fil means “rank, order, or series,” terms that are appropriate to Ganesha, who through his eight incarnations symbolizes this reordering of matter. From this same perspective of the story of Ganesha and the reordering of matter, the Faroese word filt means “perceived,” “sensed,” and “conscious.”
For reasons that are cosmological in nature, Ganesha is sometimes pictured as having only one spear-like tusk. In some traditions, the arrow is considered to be an icon of Ganesha, or sometimes of his goddess mother. In some languages, the term for “arrow” or “tusk” is rendered as pille, a phoneme that, in the mindset of our cosmology, implies “elephant.” So it makes sense that the Faroese word pilur means “arrow, dart, barb, spear, javelin.”
My knowledge of Tamil accepts the meaning of Pilu as son, but not as elephant.
Similarly Scranton analyzes the term Purana – “Our outlook is that the word puran is formed from the roots per, meaning “structure,” and an, which means “offering,” and, like the Orkney Island structures, implies progressive stages of creation.” However ‘Purana’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ancient and in Sanskrit the full term is ‘Itihaasa Purana’ or History (Itihaasa) Ancient (Purana) i.e. Ancient History. The Hindu belief is that the Puranas narrate ancient history. All Puranas are in the format of a dialogue between a seeker and teacher – much like the Dogon Initiates. The initiates had to ask questions which the senior priest would answer. And here Scranton hits the mark, in so far as Purana is a ‘structured offering’ of archaic knowledge.
Barring this slight difference of opinion the book’s scholarship, research, presentation and theories are acceptable and beautifully elucidated. For the readers of ancient histories, this book should be part of the ‘must read’ list.
October 19, 2019
The only reason I gave this book one star was for its comedy value. The author attempts to associate practically every name he can find relating to the Orkney and Faroe Islands with the Dogan people and the ancient Egyptians in a cosmological sense, even equating the name Faroe Islands with the Pharaohs of Egypt. I studied the archaeological sites of Orkney at university and if I had thought up such convoluted connections I am certain I would not have gained my degree. Anyone thinking that this is a serious examination of Skara Brae will be sadly mistaken.
January 2, 2020
I read the book in preparation for a trip to Scotland and the Orkney Islands. I was fascinated by Skara Brae and the neolithic sites and wanted to know as much as possible before going. The book was difficult to follow, perhaps because I didn't have a strong background in all of the beliefs and hypotheses of Laird Scranton, but I also felt like the writing was not strong --- a lot of rambling and skipping around.
September 25, 2022
Hilarious! But very poorly reasoned and sourced. Lots of speculation with very little evidence pointing us towards the big reveal that Skara Brae is actually Atlantis, and its inhabitants founded kingdoms in Egypt, Peru, China, and Ireland. Any real points this book may make are overwhelmed by a flood of faulty logic and stretches of the imagination. Very enjoyable to read if you want to spend the whole book laughing at the author.
Want to read
May 14, 2022Thank god I read these reviews before subjecting myself to this book. I was skeptical (considering the title) and clearly I was on the right track.
May 13, 2023
Don’t know what to write about this book looks like writer himself wasn’t sure what he wanted to say so he ended up mixing everything that too repeatedly…
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews