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Climb down into an underground Iron Age chamber supported on stone pillars.

Grain Earth House is an exceptionally well-built and well-preserved example of an earth house. Its original entrance survives today, leading to a 5m-long passage winding its way to an oval chamber.

Like other earth houses in the north of the country, it probably dates from the end of the first millennium BC. It’s part of a larger settlement of stone roundhouses, though we don’t know the settlement’s full extent.

A tall, grassy mound with an area cut out in the middle to form an entrance
A sign with the words "welcome to grain earth house" on an ironwork fence
A narrow stone staircase, surrounded by stone walls, leading down to a darkened chamber
Aerial view looking at Skara Brae and the sea on a sunny day

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