Archaeologists working in Orkney have pieced together the most complete picture to date of life in Neolithic Britain. Excavation of a settlement on the island of Westray points to a people that farmed and fished together and probably had their own village hall.

Archaeologists believe that the Links of Noltland settlement could become as significant as Skara Brae, the Unesco World Heritage Site on Orkney’s mainland.

Graeme Wilson, who is leading the excavation of the site, said that he hoped to learn how “ordinary, run-of-the-mill people” lived 5,000 years ago. It is thought that up to six extended families lived in Links of Noltland in three to four buildings and that they farmed crops such as barley, and kept livestock, including cattle and sheep.