Jamie-Lee Arrow opens up about her father, Isakin Drabbad, the so-called "Skara Cannibal" who is featured in the new season of ID's 'Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks' Frozen in time, abandoned for 4,500 years, and under threat from an eroding coastline, Scotland’s “Pompeii” is the best-preserved Neolithic settlement in Western Europe. But despite Skara Brae’s immaculate preservation, researchers still don’t know why it was abandoned. Before its discovery, Skara Brae was nothing more than a sandy, grassy mound in the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland. In 1850, a powerful storm stripped the sand away, revealing bits of a small village. One of the locals who stumbled upon the ruins was an amateur archaeologist named William Watt. Watt and his colleague, George Petrie, excavated the site and uncovered four houses. After Watt died in 1866, Petrie did not continue their work but did present his findings to the academic community. The site was largely left alone until 1913 when, over a single weekend, someone plundered the site for artifacts. Soon after, another storm revealed more of the village. In 1925, officials constructed a seawall to protect the ruins from the ocean. Then in 1927, researchers finally decided to investigate the site properly when the government granted access to archaeologist V. Gordon Childe from the University of Edinburgh.  One of Skara Brae’s houses. Photo: Shutterstock Because of waterlogging and protection from the sand, the site was impressively well-preserved. The researchers found ten flagstone houses built deep into the ground. Each house has Stone Age furniture, including beds, a fireplace, and a Neolithic drainage system. Artifacts included animal bones, tools, jewelry, and pots, as well as a series of carved stone balls with rune-like symbols. Linguists have yet to crack what the runes mean.  Radiocarbon dating suggests most of the discoveries are from around 3180 BC. Around 2500 BC, village life died out. The village shows no sign of advancing further into the Bronze Age, and personal belongings were left behind. What happened that caused the residents to abandon their homes?  Archaeologists determined that less than 50 people lived in Skara Brae. The residents were most likely farmers and hunters. Researchers call them the “Grooved Ware People,” after some of the distinctive objects they used. They left traces of their existence at other Neolithic sites in Orkney, including the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness.  So why did the small community leave? Some historians believe Skara Brae suffered a catastrophe akin to Pompeii. The area is prone to bad weather, and a particularly dreadful storm could have forced the residents to flee. The site was surrounded by dunes, so powerful winds could have blown sand into the village and buried the site. Skara Brae house interior. Photo: Jule Berlin/Shutterstock Another theory is that natural erosion of the coastline threatened the village crops. However, the site was most likely abandoned for several reasons. The transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age saw drastic social changes. The Bronze Age brought more sophisticated weaponry, more complex architecture, and the emergence of chiefdoms and hierarchies. Villages grew in size, and migration and trade increased. Perhaps the older residents of Skara Brae died off while the youngest moved on, looking for easier lives. Skara Brae’s abandonment was probably gradual. Straddling two time periods, it succumbed to the tides of change. Recently, Dan Hicks of the University of Oxford tweeted several black-and-white photos from the 1929 Skara Brae excavation, setting off a group of “internet sleuths.” The photos contained four women who people had long believed to be tourists. They were actually archaeologists. The internet sleuths embarked on a mission to uncover their identities. Eventually, they found their names: Margaret Simpson, Margaret Mitchell, Dame Margaret Cole, and Mary Kennedy. All were students of Professor Childe’s. All but one became professional archaeologists. (Cole pursued a writing career.) The women were trailblazers, with female archaeologists exceedingly rare at the time. The Skara Brae 1929 excavation. Photo: Orkney Library Kristine De Abreu is a writer at ExplorersWeb. Kristine has been writing about Science, Mysteries and History for 4+ years. Prior to that, Kristine studied at the University of Leicester in the UK. Based in Port-of-Spain, Kristine is also a literature teacher, avid reader, hiker, occasional photographer, an animal lover and shameless ramen addict. Sign up to receive ExplorersWeb content direct to your inbox once a week. Media & Resources Charles Skara says leading with empathy and furthering a collaborative culture are as critical to success as the numbers themselves. From left to right: PACU President/CEO Dion Williams Credit union: Piedmont Advantage Credit Union ($391 million Number of years at current credit union: Eight months (started April 1 2024) Educational background: Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Rutgers University School of Business in New Brunswick CU Times: What are your key responsibilities in your current role I’ve always valued organizations that prioritize relationships over transactions Credit unions take that further by operating as not-for-profits reinvesting earnings into their members and communities through better rates lower fees and more flexible lending opportunities The opportunity to work at Piedmont Advantage was especially compelling because of its commitment to building trust and a sense of belonging which aligns closely with my personal and professional values Being part of an organization where every decision is made with members’ and staff’s well-being in mind is inspiring and rewarding Skara: As a former Controller for many years I know the day-to-day operations of accounting and reporting well when implementing a long-term vision for the credit union’s finances I can prepare my team for what to expect and how to manage through any unforeseen challenges CU Times: Which person (or people) do you credit the most for helping and supporting you along your career journey Skara: I have had many great mentors throughout my career but the one that stands out most is from a Treasurer early in my career who taught me that we can do even the most challenging project if we take it one small task at a time CU Times: What are some of the biggest differences between working in your current executive level role and your previous Skara: The most significant difference is the broader scope of influence and responsibility I’m not just focused on financial reporting or operational processes I ensure that every financial decision supports our mission and strategic objectives Another significant difference is the level of visibility and accountability It’s both a privilege and a challenge to operate at this level knowing that my actions contribute to the entire organization's success I’ve found the need to balance financial management's technical aspects with leadership's interpersonal demands Leading with empathy and furthering a collaborative culture are as critical to success as the numbers themselves CU Times: What’s a challenge you faced when you first joined your executive team Skara: One of the biggest challenges came within my first few months when our annual regulatory audit began which was conducted jointly by the NCUA and the North Carolina Credit Union Division Stepping into this executive role during such a critical process required me to quickly get up to speed on the credit union’s financial operations and regulatory landscape I approached this challenge using my prior audit experience staying organized and prioritizing clear communication with the team and auditors I also took the opportunity to build relationships with my colleagues relying on their institutional knowledge to guide our collaborative approach giving me valuable insights into the credit union’s operations and setting a solid foundation for my role moving forward CU Times: How would you describe your current leadership style Skara: I want to lead by setting an example of hard work and dedication to the organization’s principles And I try to always have a smile on my face CU Times: What are some lessons you've learned over your career concerning how to communicate well with others do you approach communication differently depending on the generation of the recipient (boomer Skara: I try to be as hands-on as possible – I communicate face to face whenever I can I think there’s more value in personal contact And I think that works across all generations CU Times: What are some ways in which you achieve work/life balance singing with the Catalyst Church praise team Volunteering as a board member at Hannah’s Haven in Greensboro is especially rewarding as I get to see firsthand the change in the lives of women overcoming drug and alcohol addiction CU Times: What’s next for you on your executive career journey Do you have any specific career goals you’re working toward Skara: After working for several community banks over the past 18 years CFO is the ‘mountain-top’ job for an accountant and I’m hoping to help grow our credit union in both members and assets in the coming years There are a lot of people who don’t know what makes credit unions different from banks and I’d like to help that education process CU Times: What big-picture impact do you hope to make within your credit union Skara: PACU has a 75-year history of serving our members and communities I’m hoping that we can expand into nearby communities in coming years services and feeling of being part of our ‘family’ to those places CU Times: What career advice would you give your younger self Skara: Don’t let the setbacks get you down I’ve worked for some companies that don’t exist anymore – two that went out of business others that were acquired by larger entities Just keep your head up and put in the work and good things will happen Would you or someone you know like to share your journey to credit union leadership? Please reach out to Natasha Chilingerian at [email protected] the individual must be a part of a credit union's leadership team or C-suite and have a compelling story to share about their rise to their current leadership role More from this author ⟶ Read More › Read More › Read More › Read More › Read More › / For questions about Credit Union Times, please call 800-458-1734 (9:00am-5:30pm ET, Monday through Friday, except holidays), or send an email to [email protected] By clicking the button, I accept the Terms of Use of the service and its Privacy Policy as well as consent to the processing of personal data Don’t have an account? Signup the no-code video streaming platform by Flixbox Solutions has launched a new digital campaign titled #PauseToPlay with the message: Unwind The campaign encourages people to take a pledge and take a break from their screens Skara invites people to pledge to stay off social media and mobile screens and share what their offline plans are through videos and images with the hashtag #PauseToPlay With people spending an average of 6+ hours of screen time per day screen fatigue has become an increasing concern Skara took the initiative to test this within its own workspace-capturing candid moments as employees stepped away from their screens and told us about what they are planning for this Holi The result was a refreshing shift in energy said: “Technology has connected us in incredible ways but it’s important to remind ourselves to disconnect too We are thrilled to launch the #PauseToPlay campaign which aims to show that it’s okay to take a break from the hustle-bustle and enjoy the moment but we also believe in stepping back and embracing the present moment.” The #PauseToPlay campaign will run on YouTube encouraging people to focus on the present flavour-forward dips and more at Balkan Skara in Melbourne’s north Remove items from your saved list to add more Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime Did you hear the one about the guy who loved his local restaurant so much he bought it That’s how Marijan Nikolovski ended up with Balkan Skara where his family had celebrated christenings and birthdays for years A longtime engineer in the automotive industry the demise of local car manufacturing meant he was out of a job Nikolovski was forever tinkering on the Weber at home – maybe he should fulfil his dream of running a restaurant one day he bought his favourite restaurant when the owners were ready to retire It was a fond handover and included recipes that had kept the northern suburbs happy for 20 years Nikolovski added some of his Macedonian family’s own recipes and rebranded the place to Balkan Skara (“skara” meaning “grill” in Macedonian) The name gives a handy clue to the offering Macedonian cuisine is a subset of Balkan food pepper dip and cabbage rolls found throughout the region with national and aunty-to-aunty variations Meat platter with kebaci and sharska (cheese stuffed patty).Jason SouthThe politics are complicated it’s honest food made with pride and generosity – as it is at Balkan Skara and you’ll probably see Marijan at the grill keeping an eye on his beloved kebapi sausages His sons might be there cooking rice or soaking beans wife Angelina will be taking orders in the small dining room (“Just the usual?” I hear her ask one guy) The music on the television is Macedonian – you’ll likely see footage of piano accordions and sheepskin bagpipes similar to those displayed on the walls It feels like you’re in the Epping melting pot and an old-school pizza joint down the road Ajvar is a sturdy relish made with capsicum and eggplant Leftover bread is one of the world’s great gifts drizzled with olive oil and scattered with oregano and feta to make nafora clotted cream and there’s no wrong way to eat it: with bread Nafora grilled bread.Jason SouthI would drive to Epping especially for the sarma the family pickles cabbage leaves for months until they are soft and savoury They’re stuffed with rice and pork mince to form plump Kebapi are made to a secret ratio of pork and beef mince you can tell how much care goes into this bedrock dish a football-shaped pattie parcel stuffed with tasty cheese Cutting into it was a satisfyingly oozy experience you’ll need to spoon your way through a serious layer of grated feta to reveal the tomato It’s disarmingly simple – use the oil and vinegar on your table to adjust the dressing cream and condensed milk to create a perfect pudding-like dessert Drinking is threaded through Balkan food culture There’s a Macedonian semi-dry red made from vranec which goes well with grilled meats; BYO wine Skopsko pilsner and rakiya (a potent fruit brandy) are options too who is ticking off his bucket list and making people happy at the same time Whether it’s fish on the grill or lamb twirling over charcoal Jim’s knows how to do fresh and fire-cooked it’s been welcoming groups for upbeat meals in a casual setting at keen prices A Melbourne institution for good reason.   32 Johnston Street, Collingwood, facebook.com/jimsgreektavern skewers and cutlets on the grill and excellent just-feed-us platters people come for the house-made dips and a killer range of halal snack packs 173 Caroline Springs Boulevard, Caroline Springs, facebook.com/galatamelbourne Asian fusion grills are the thing at TungThit whether it’s wagyu tomahawk served with bone marrow fried rice You could also go for Melbourne’s most expensive banh mi stuffed with beef short rib and pushing $60 41 Springvale Road, Springvale, instagram.com/tungthit_sizzlingsteak Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide. Abbotsford favourite goes from grungy to grown-up but is still finding its grooveNew chef. New fit-out. There’s lots to like about the new-look Dr Morse. And still plenty of room for dancing out the back. You’ll hit the jackpot at this suburban Chinese restaurant with heart – and perfect prawn toastCome for the dumplings and prawn toast, stay for the warm, cosy atmosphere at convivial Potluck. Why this ‘pure Melbourne’ trattoria is attracting a new wave of admirersThe Carlton favourite has long delivered just about everything you’d want from a casual neighbourhood restaurant, says our critic. Now Gen Z has discovered its appeal, too. news and the hottest openings served to your inbox It may be older than Stonehenge and even the Pyramids at Giza, but Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is bringing over 5,000 years of history at Skara Brae in Orkney into the 21st century with a new digital 3D model of the site The model, available to view on Sketchfab allows virtual visitors an immersive digital experience of the Neolithic settlement including the unique opportunity to gain virtual access to House 7 the best-preserved house at Skara Brae which is not normally accessible to the public As well as offering a unique perspective on the iconic site the digital model also allows users to explore how climate change and its impacts have shaped Skara Brae - from its discovery just over 170 years ago as the result of a severe winter storm to the threat of coastal erosion from rising sea levels and increasingly frequent extreme weather events the site is experiencing today Users can also see how HES and its predecessors have responded to those challenges by exploring the sea wall which was constructed in the 1920s to protect the site from wave and storm damage and which has been extended and repaired numerous times over the decades The 3D technology used to create the model also has an important role to play in protecting the site for the future Skara Brae and the surrounding bay have been laser scanned every two years by HES to monitor coastal change at the site The data from this scanning is then used to inform management and maintenance of the site and is shared with Scotland’s national coastal mapping project The new 3D model allows visitors to explore inside House 7 at Skara Brae The house is sealed off and closed to the public but the 3D scan allows people to explore the room virtually including 5,000-year-old patterns on the side of a bed Head of Digital Innovation and Learning at HES “We’re really pleased to make this 3D model of Skara Brae available which not only offers an innovative way to access this unique site but one which also showcases how we are using cutting-edge technology to monitor and maintain our historic environment “As we reflect on COP26 and the challenges ahead we want to demonstrate that in order to protect our past from the impacts of climate change “Whilst the challenge posed by climate change is stark new technologies like those deployed by HES collaborate and find new approaches to become sea-level wise and adapt to our future climate.” The model was created using laser scan data captured as part of the Rae project which aims to accurately digitally document over 300 heritage sites and their collections in the care of HES The Year of Coasts and Waters (#YCW2021) Activities and ideas will shine a spotlight on the impact our waters have had on Scotland from the formation of beautiful natural features to the creation of our national drink - whisky Twitter: @HistEnvScot | @welovehistory Facebook: @HistoricEnvScotland | @VisitHistoricScotland Instagram: @HistEnvScot | @historicscotland BlogLinkedIn Claire MullaneyHistoric Environment Scotland Media OfficeMobile: 07221 959 962communications@hes.scot Our app is your one-stop shop for information on Scotland’s iconic historic attractions Flixbox Solutions officially launched Skara a no-code platform for creators and businesses to launch their streaming apps in minutes Skara launches as the global video streaming market nears $155 billion by 2029 focusing on emerging markets like Southeast Asia Skara is a homegrown SaaS platform designed for the Indian market offering video streaming solutions with monetisation features for businesses across industries Skara provides a platform for creators and businesses to enter the growing video streaming market It addresses challenges like high upfront costs and long development times by allowing users to launch a branded streaming app quickly and at no cost “We want creators and businesses to be at the center of the video-consumption revolution that the world is witnessing While platforms are looking at ways to take portions out of the actual creators’ revenue we bring the power back by letting them keep 100% of it And along comes the freedom to create content without depending on algorithms and prejudices.” says Ankita Saikia received this information in a press release The World Heritage Centre is at the forefront of the international community’s efforts to protect and preserve World Heritage partnerships for conservation Ensuring that World Heritage sites sustain their outstanding universal value is an increasingly challenging mission in today’s complex world where sites are vulnerable to the effects of uncontrolled urban development Our Partners Donate Take advantage of the search to browse through the World Heritage Centre information. The group of Neolithic monuments on Orkney consists of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites. The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago. Le groupe de monuments néolithiques des Orcades consiste en une grande tombe à chambres funéraires (Maes Howe), deux cercles de pierres cérémoniels (les pierres dressées de Stenness et le cercle de Brogar) et un foyer de peuplement (Skara Brae), ainsi que dans un certain nombre de sites funéraires, cérémoniels et d'établissement non encore fouillés. L'ensemble constitue un important paysage culturel préhistorique retraçant la vie il y a 5 000 ans dans cet archipel lointain, au nord de l'Écosse. تتألف مجموعة النصب النيوليتية في أوركني من قبر كبير مزوّد بحجرات جنائزية ومن حلقتين من الحجارة الطقسية (وهي حجارة ستينيس المنتصبة وحلقة بروغار) ومن عدد من المواقع الجنائزية الطقسية والمنشأت التي لم تخضع للتنقيب بعد. وتشكل هذه المجموعة منظراً ثقافياً هاماً من مرحلة ما قبل التاريخ  وتروي مسيرة 5000 عام من هذا الأرخبيل البعيد شمال اسكتلندا. 奥克尼新石器时代遗址包括一个庞大的墓穴（麦豪石室）和两个举行仪式的石圈（斯特尼斯石圈和布罗德加古石圈）、一个居住区（史卡拉弧状岩石）和许多未被挖掘出来的墓葬、仪式场所和定居点。它们形成了壮观的文化遗址，展现了五千年前苏格兰群岛北部一个偏僻岛屿上的生活状况。 Группа памятников неолита на Оркнейских островах состоит из большой погребальной камеры (Maes Howe), двух церемониальных колец камней (Камни Стеннес и Круг Бродгара) и поселения (Skara Brae) с множеством еще не раскопанных погребальных, церемониальных и жилых объектов. Вся группа представляет крупный доисторический культурный ландшафт, который дает наглядную картину жизни на этом удаленном архипелаге на дальнем севере Шотландии около 5 тыс. лет назад. The Orkney Islands lie 15km north of the coast of Scotland. The monuments are in two areas, some 6.6 km apart on the island of Mainland, the largest in the archipelago. The group of monuments that make up the Heart of Neolithic Orkney consists of a remarkably well-preserved settlement, a large chambered tomb, and two stone circles with surrounding henges, together with a number of associated burial and ceremonial sites. The group constitutes a major relict cultural landscape graphically depicting life five thousand years ago in this remote archipelago. The four monuments that make up the Heart of Neolithic Orkney are unquestionably among the most important Neolithic sites in Western Europe. These are the Ring of Brodgar, Stones of Stenness, Maeshowe and Skara Brae. They provide exceptional evidence of the material and spiritual standards as well as the beliefs and social structures of this dynamic period of prehistory. The property is characteristic of the farming culture prevalent from before 4000 BC in northwest Europe. It provides exceptional evidence of, and demonstrates with exceptional completeness, the domestic, ceremonial, and burial practices of a now vanished 5000-year-old culture and illustrates the material standards, social structures and ways of life of this dynamic period of prehistory, which gave rise to Avebury and Stonehenge (England), Bend of the Boyne (Ireland) and Carnac (France). Criterion (i): The major monuments of the Stones of Stenness, the Ring of Brodgar, the chambered tomb of Maeshowe, and the settlement of Skara Brae display the highest sophistication in architectural accomplishment; they are technologically ingenious and monumental masterpieces. Criterion (ii): The Heart of Neolithic Orkney exhibits an important interchange of human values during the development of the architecture of major ceremonial complexes in the British Isles, Ireland and northwest Europe. Criterion (iii): Through the combination of ceremonial, funerary and domestic sites, the Heart of Neolithic Orkney bears a unique testimony to a cultural tradition that flourished between about 3000 BC and 2000 BC. The state of preservation of Skara Brae is unparalleled amongst Neolithic settlement sites in northern Europe. Criterion (iv): The Heart of Neolithic Orkney is an outstanding example of an architectural ensemble and archaeological landscape that illustrate a significant stage of human history when the first large ceremonial monuments were built. All the monuments lie within the designated boundaries of the property. However, the boundaries are tightly drawn and do not encompass the wider landscape setting of the monuments that provides their essential context, nor other monuments that can be seen to support the Outstanding Universal Value of the property. Part of the landscape is covered by a two part buffer zone, centred on Skara Brae in the west and on the Mainland monuments in the central west. This fragile landscape is vulnerable to incremental change. Physical threats to the monuments include visitor footfall and coastal erosion. The level of authenticity in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney is high. The state of preservation at Skara Brae is unparalleled for a prehistoric settlement in northern Europe. Where parts of the site have been lost or reconstructed during early excavations, there is sufficient information to identify and interpret the extent of such works. The Scottish Historic Environment Policy (SHEP) is the primary policy guidance on the protection and management of the historic environment in Scotland. Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) sits alongside the SHEP and is the Government’s national planning policy on the historic environment. It provides for the protection of World Heritage properties by considering the impact of development on their Outstanding Universal Value, authenticity and integrity. Management of tourism in and around the World Heritage property seeks to recognise its value  to the local economy, and to develop sustainable approaches to tourism. Key approaches include improved dispersal of visitors around the monuments that comprise the property and other sites in the wider area. A World Heritage Ranger Service supports this approach and allows for on-the-ground education about the issues affecting the site. All images​Search​Search by imageTrending: Images Video Music Sound effects AI Image Generator Vectors Photos Templates About us Stock photos Sell your content Website Terms of Use Pond5 Shutterstock.AI This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Clemson forward and defensive specialist David Skara won’t be back for his redshirt senior season Although he was in line to complete for a starting position Skara has decided to forfeit his final year of NCAA eligibility to pursue professional basketball News of Skara’s early departure is unexpected but European student athletes leaving early to play professionally back home is not unheard of Wake Forest’s Dino Mitoglou joined them from Greece and then left a year early to play professionally back in Greece but it shouldn’t be taken as commentary on Clemson’s program in any way David Skara joined Clemson two years ago as a transfer from Valparaiso He sat out 2016-17 per transfer rules and then sat out nine more games due to a strange NCAA eligibility-related suspension Skara finally played his first game as a Tiger in their big win against Florida He played a key role off the bench for most of the season His defense was outstanding and his role expanded greatly when Donte Grantham got injured Aamir Simms will likely earn the starting job at PF Skara would have been the favorite to earn the other vacated slot Now we’ll see AJ Oliver (6’4”) compete with incoming freshmen Hunter Tyson (6’7”) and John Newman (6’5”) It’s also possible that Simms shifts down to SF if getting more minutes for Malik William or freshman Trey Jemison makes sense Another possibility - and the one I believe to be the most likely - is that we see a graduate-transfer take a chunk of the minutes. We highlighted a couple of possibilities in our post about Scott Spencer’s transfer Clemson can now take up to three transfers We’ll likely start hearing who the Tigers add as transfers in a couple of weeks Congratulations to David as he starts the next chapter of his life Skara Brae were a four-piece band whose immense legacy belied an existence that was fleeting but iridescent Tríona and Micheál Ó Domhnaill and Dáithí Sproule lit a fire beneath a new kind of music that melded traditional contemporary pop and jazz influences with a fluency that took listeners by surprise The album is now being re-released by Gael Linn in celebration of its groundbreaking arrangements and intricate harmonies Three of the four band members are in the finest of form as they recount the recording of their self-titled album – in one afternoon in the Marianella Hall in Rathgar “I remember a stereo pair of mics coming out of the ceiling,” recounts Maighread smiling wryly at the sophistication of the entire endeavour We went in at 1pm and it was done and dusted by five or six that evening.” but my biggest memory is that when we all sang together Skara Brae’s repertoire was eclectic and in a constant state of evolution Anchored by the two guitars of Micheál Ó Domhnaill and Dáithí Sproule it was distinguished by Tríona’s introduction of the clavinet a portable keyboard that she had acquired just a week before the album was recorded Maighread and Tríona’s close harmonies on a raft of lesser-known Donegal songs (including An Suantraí Tríona was 16 and Micheál and Dáithí were 19 and 20 Co Meath but spent long summers in Ranafast in Co Donegal where their parents were from and the four young musicians started playing and singing together informally from an early age with influences from near and far audible in their arrangements but with Donegal at the beating heart of the band’s rich harmonies “Dáithí and Micheál were playing together a lot “Tríona and myself played along on the side they would come down to Kells at the weekends We’d have been singing together and daddy had lots of songs and songbooks that he offered us It was those weekends in Kells where we started singing together and working out the arrangements.” Our father had this fear that the songs would die and that people were losing interest in them and this was a way to seducing young people into listening to them again Within a brief time of the release of their album Skara Brae were supporting everyone from The Chieftains to Matthews Southern Comfort in the Cork Opera House And hearing all manner of great music in Slattery’s on Capel Street has a particular fondness for Skara Brae’s solo debut "The album is considered one of the most important albums in its genre," he says "Skara Brae brought the influence of pop and folk music to bear on traditional Irish songs with arrangements influenced by The Beatles It's notable for its vocal harmonisation of songs in Irish especially so in the singing of Maighread and Tríona." It’s tempting to assume that this landmark recording was met with universal acclaim but at the time of its release there were some who viewed its edgy arrangements as a real and present danger to the future of traditional music “Some people saw it as a total desecration of the old songs,” Maighread offers with a smile as she recalls her 15-year-old self loving every minute of the band’s musical adventures “Our father was telling us to take these songs and make our own of them Our parents loved this music and loved that we were playing and singing and this was a way to seducing young people into listening to them again.” Aodh Ó Domhnaill’s influence was key to the band’s groundbreaking sound I've been involved in some very polished music in the recording studio over the years but I think polish can be a kind of trap where you second-guess yourself “He had such a love for the poetry in the songs and the music in the melodies,” she recalls “He saw the beauty and the richness in it all and passed it on to us I definitely didn’t want a nine-to-five or office job and I was listening to and soaking up all kinds of music so I was dreaming big when the opportunity came to join The Bothy Band we all just took a chance and said: let’s go for it With Sproule moving to the US and joining Altan and with Tríona and Maighread forging fine reputations as soloists in jazz-influenced bands Relativity and Nightnoise “I’m not sure that anybody has done what we did with that balance of strong vocals and the repertoire,” Sproule suggests “I’ve been involved in some very polished music in the recording studio over the years but I think polish can sometimes be a kind of trap where you second-guess yourself Tríona says that we didn’t second-guess ourselves – you just do it But I think that polishing everything is a kind of frightened approach to music That rawness and lack of safety is a great way to work.” Skara Brae is re-released on Gael Linn records [ gael-linn.ieOpens in new window ] Facebook pageTwitter feed© 2025 The Irish Times DAC but Never Learned to Like ItUtilizing seaweed as fodder may have been key to ovine husbandry in prehistoric northern Scotland and the sheep of Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands just had to adapt 2019Get email notification for articles from Ruth Schuster FollowSep 10 The normally finicky ovines have been doing so for about 5,500 years at Skara Brae Citizens and scientists on the Orkney Islands are racing to protect thousands of ancient structures threatened by climate change Orkney’s soft green landscapes hold a trove of things from everyday life before history was written More than 3,000 archaeological sites — among them standing stone circles Norse halls and a Neolithic tomb graffitied by Vikings — have endured for millenniums scattered across the roughly 70 islands that make up the Orkney archipelago one of Europe’s best-preserved Stone Age villages bedsteads and doors that could be bolted shut people are working to save some of these places for posterity from the climate changes accelerated by human activity many built before Stonehenge or the pyramids Orkney beaches have eroded twice as fast as in the previous century Others that had been stable are now shrinking are dissolving the crusts of soil and sand packs that protect remnants of civilizations These threats, now familiar at world heritage sites around the globe are being answered in Scotland by archaeologists Orkney’s stories are recorded in disappearing ink “Heritage is falling into the sea,” said Prof director of the Archaeology Institute at the University of Highlands and Islands “It’s a very dramatic and obvious sign of sea level rise and increased storminess.” By Sarah Almukhtar | Source: Historic Environment Scotland Canmore Note: Archaeological sites date from prehistoric times through the 20th century troops of archaeologists and students descend in the summers to dig “We’re focused on coastal sites because they’re going to be gone,” Professor Downes said the only plausible kind of preservation is documentation — done swiftly students packed the site with rock and a thick plastic membrane Depending on the severity of the winter storms the protection might keep some of the fine sediments from washing away and also allow another year of excavation at the deteriorating tomb In a short walk along the south shore of Rousay Island a stunning arc of human activity comes into view The burial of a cow on Rousay in 1963 led to the discovery of human graves and a silver brooch inlaid with amber and gold filigree from about 750 A.D a lecturer with the University of Highlands and Islands and the co-author of “Rising Tides: The Loss of Coastal Heritage in Orkney.” Gibson said: “They found two guys buried in boats One was born north of the Arctic Circle.” At the Knowe of Swandro, on Rousay, tribes built atop the homes of predecessors, creating layers of habitation back to Neolithic times. One discovery at Swandro this summer was a rock anvil used 1,500 years ago by a Pictish coppersmith, still smudged with the carbon grime of the forge “You can see where the smithy put his hand and his knee,” said Steve Dockrill a senior lecturer at the University of Bradford The anvil is among the finds that have emerged since 2010 “I gave it a kick,” Professor Bond said “The kick is an important archaeological tool.” The Swandro project has a charitable trust to support equipment, tests and housing Virtually all the Orkney digs rely on donations to supplement thousands of hours of free labor from students the City University of New York and elsewhere finished their summer fieldwork they hoped the sites would be there the following year that provide a “cultural and economic biography,” Professor Bond said “We did core sampling at low tide eight years ago When we did it again a couple of years ago How climate change is erasing cultural identity around the world From 2012 to 2016, more than 1,200 volunteers, trained by the Scottish Coastal Heritage at Risk project at the University of St. Andrews, mapped vulnerable sites in Scotland scores of them on the Orkney and Shetland islands a community group on Sanday painstakingly moved a mysterious Stone Age structure known as a burnt mound to a heritage center away from the shorefront where it was being battered residents are sandbagging an 11th century graveyard to keep skeletons from spilling out Public agencies are using laser scans to map changes to the beach in front of Skara Brae where the waters of the Bay of Skaill lap ever closer Thanks to the sea wall, Skara Brae remains intact, Ms. Gibson said, in contrast with an unprotected mill a few hundred yards away that has been demolished by tides and storms since 1972. Similarly, the Midhowe Broch has been successfully defended since 1934 by a sea wall “We’re learning where physical structures can be used for a limited time and others that can work permanently,” Ms Natural changes in climate over the last 15,000 years made human habitation not only possible on the islands The farmers and fishers put little pressure on the land most beaches will grow and shrink as the sand and sediment subtracted from one spot are added to another But nature’s rhythms are being accelerated by human actions “Sea level in Orkney has been rising over thousands of years, and so coastal flooding and beach erosion is nothing new,” said Jim Hansom, a professor of geomorphology at the University of Glasgow and principal investigator for Dynamic Coast, a report commissioned by the Scottish government to assess coastal change. “What is of concern is that the extent and pace of erosion since the 1970s has increased.” Some Orkney beaches have narrowed an average of 16 inches per year since 1970 compared to an annual average loss of eight inches between 1890 and 1970 Rainfall in Northern Scotland increased nearly 26 percent from 1961 to 2011, according to Historic Environment Scotland, the public steward of Scotland’s historic sites, which has studied risks to Scottish heritage from climate shifts “The changes have speeded up,” said Mairi Davies significantly faster than at any other point in the last 100 years The new extremes have led to archaeological epiphanies Walking across Cata Sand on the island of Sanday on a windy December day in 2015 Professor Downes and colleagues noticed an upright stone and red soil that turned out to be hearth scrapings With students and archaeologists from her own school and the University of Central Lancashire, Professor Downes has spent the last three summers digging between tides and documenting the artifacts The waters and storms that exposed these sites will also The coastal survey forecasts that Cata Sand will lose about 80 feet of beach by 2050 “That’s why this site is so important in trying to understand the lives of past societies,” Ross Drummond a student at the University of Highlands and Islands “The archaeology will be washed away for good and future generations will only have our records and findings to go on to understand the story of Cata.” In 1999, a few Orkney treasures were listed as world heritage monuments by Unesco which said the islands had been a “center of innovation and experimentation” in art and architecture that spread throughout the Neolithic world Its entryway aligns with the setting midwinter sun (More than 4,000 years after Maeshowe was built Vikings broke in and carved runes on the walls A fit-to-print graffito roughly translates as: “Thorfinn wrote these runes.”) is only now emerging on a neck of land surrounded by water a couple hired a farmer to plow a sheep field outside their retirement home to ready the ground for a wildflower meadow he hit a stone — one that had notches carved into it The stone was part of a group of monumentally scaled structures the area’s landscape had been dominated by two circles of standing stones the Ring of Brodgar and the Stones of Stenness (they appear on the album cover of Van Morrison’s “The Philosopher’s Stone”) and is rich with artwork and heaps of cattle bone from mass feasts Archaeologists and students trowel the soil “I thought you’d have to be really lucky to find anything,” Kaehlin Terry a senior from Willamette University in Oregon like the homely kitchens of Skara Brae and the tomb at Maeshowe were built thousands of years before scribes first told of Buddha and Moses Sign up to receive our in-depth journalism about climate change around the world Written by Jim Dwyer. Photographs and drone video by Josh Haner.Designed and produced by Meaghan Looram Clemson's David Skara (24) came to the U.S Grace is the Post and Courier's Clemson reporter She graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in journalism SAN DIEGO — The plane landed in Chicago five years ago and as David Skara gazed out the window for the first time now a redshirt junior forward on Clemson’s Sweet 16-bound basketball team had not once been to the United States before he traveled 4,800 miles from his home in Zadar as a teenager to start a new life for himself in a small Indiana town He wondered how he would fit into American culture; he underestimated how much he would miss the fresh fish caught from the Adriatic Sea at home; and when an American introduced him to macaroni and cheese for the first time he found himself confused as ever by this new country and its concepts But he ate it — and liked it — remembering why he was here “I always wanted to play basketball and get an education at the same time and it’s almost impossible in Europe to do that,” he said “You’ve either got to choose an education or play professional basketball And now all of the pieces are coming together 5 seed Clemson continues its run in the NCAA Tournament with a game against Kansas in Omaha Skara will be reminded once more that his sacrifice to leave his homeland and bet on his own future in the U.S The journey started when he was a teenager and it became evident he wanted to combine elite basketball with an elite education The young Skara proposed a plan to his parents: he would move to a new continent then earn a scholarship to play college basketball He would come home once a year — every spring They could stream his college games from Croatia on the Internet around 1 or 2 a.m I’m leaving at 18 years old across the ocean But eventually she came around and she supported it.” the college he attended straight out of high school when a man named Brad Brownell called him about playing at Clemson after Skara announced his intentions to transfer it was Skara that earned the honor of defending him When Clemson matched up with New Mexico State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament “He's a selfless guy and that's one of the reasons why he's a good defensive player And one of the reasons I like him as a player is because he really just wants to win,” Brownell said where the two teach each other about their respective cultures Skara has showed Thomas how to make Croatian pot roast Thomas has introduced Skara to rap music — which he loves  — and his golden retriever puppy Thomas likes to push Skara out of his comfort zone and make him try new things As Clemson continues its run in the tournament it is clear Skara will continue to play his niche role — that of a smart efficient defender who creates nightmares for opposing teams His family is not in the country for the NCAA Tournament but certainly the laptops will be streaming and the support will radiate from Croatia this week “I think it makes it easier for him to be here with people that love him and care about him," Thomas said It takes a lot for people to do what he’s doing You don’t really see that many people doing that News tips/online questions: newstips@postandcourier.com Delivery/subscription questions: subserve@postandcourier.com Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Neolithic settlement in Orkney under threat once again It is fascinating to ponder what brought a group of ancient settlers to the windswept islands of Orkney One thing is certain: 5,000 years ago the Neolithic village of Skara Brae the inhabitants built comfortable dwellings furnished with stone dressers and beds and even found time to craft jewellery from walrus tusks and whale teeth but at some point an apparently abrupt event emptied the village of its inhabitants leaving the nearby dunes to blanket Skara Brae for thousands of years The village is once again under threat – a recent climate vulnerability study carried out by a group of environment and heritage experts on behalf of Historic Environment Scotland concluded the Unesco-protected settlement was extremely vulnerable to sea-level change increased precipitation and storm intensity A century-old seawall now protects the main part of the site recent storms have nibbled away at the delicate sand dunes and peaty soils with just the right wind direction and swell could do irreparable damage and sweep Skara Brae into the sea The deep roster the Clemson men's basketball team anticipated for the 2018-19 season took another hit Wednesday when forward David Skara announced he would forgo his final season of eligibility in order to pursue a pro basketball career who as a redshirt junior averaged nearly 20 minutes per game while making seven starts and 26 appearances for the team that reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament announced he would leave the program after graduating next month with a degree in economics the coaching staff and everyone in Clemson enough for making my experience here a great one,” Skara said “I represented the university with great pride while I was a student and I always will the rest of my life This team has been very special to me and I will always cherish our run to the Sweet 16 this year I’ve decided that it is in my best interest to pursue my life-long goal of playing professional basketball.” More: North Carolina, Virginia highlight home schedule for Clemson basketball in 2018-19 More: With NCAA Tournament, Sweet 16 behind them, Clemson basketball looks to the future Skara becomes the third member of the team that finished 25-10 to announce intentions to pursue pro basketball despite having eligibility remaining junior guards Marcquise Reed and Shelton Mitchell declared their eligibility for the upcoming NBA Draft but did not hire agents and could return to school.  Skara transferred to Clemson from Valparaiso in 2016 and sat out his first season due to the NCAA's transfer rules A violation from his time at Valparaiso kept him off the court for the first nine games of the 2017-18 season, but Clemson head coach Brad Brownell called him the team's best defensive player entering the year and used him as such throughout the season “I’d like to thank David for his contributions to our program over the last two seasons,” Brownell said “He had a big impact on this program in his time in at Clemson and played a crucial role in this team advancing to the Sweet 16 We’re proud of David for graduating from Clemson come May and for how hard he has worked to put himself in this position.” Neither the school nor Skara specified whether he'll enter the NBA Draft or play professional basketball overseas and will likely return to Europe to build his career Stromness Museum, Orkney, Scotland—A long-lost Neolithic human figurine found at Skara Brae in the 1860s has been rediscovered in the collections of Stromness Museum, Orkney Dr David Clarke identified the figurine among artifacts from Skaill House donated to the museum without provenance in the 1930s while undertaking research on Skara Brae funded by Historic Environment Scotland.  David Clarke said: I’ve always thought this figurine to be lost forever so seeing it staring back at me from its bed of tissue paper was completely unexpected and very exciting.” “Stromness Museum has a superb collection of artifacts from Skara Brae but this figurine has instantly become the new jewel in our collections.  We are always pleased to welcome researchers and this rediscovery highlights what can found through painstaking research in museum stores.”   The representation has been carved from a piece of whalebone and measures 9.5cm high by 7.5cm wide.  Eyes and a mouth have been cut in the face and the body has a navel but is otherwise unadorned.  Holes through the head and body may have been used to suspend the figurine ___________________________________________  The Neolithic figurine carved from whalebone ______________________________________________________  The Neolithic figurine held in the hands Credit: Stromness Museum and Hugo Anderson-Whymark ___________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________  The figurine was originally discovered by William G when excavating a stone bed compartment in House 3 of the Neolithic village after a storm in 1850. Skara Brae is a stone-built late Neolithic (c.2900-2400 BC) settlement on the Bay of Skaill Watt’s find was briefly described as a ‘idol’ or ‘fetish’ in a report of discoveries at Skara Brae by the antiquarian George Petrie in 1867 but was otherwise only known by a sketch in Petrie’s notebooks now held in the manuscripts of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Prehistoric representations of the human form are exceptionally rare in Britain.  This figurine was the first Neolithic example discovered but was largely forgotten.  Hugh Morrison Collections Manager for Historic Environment Scotland said:  “The rediscovery of the figure is significant as it emphasises many of the similarities in the late Neolithic assemblages and structures from Skara Brae and Links of Noltland because it opens the door for re-examining other objects in our collections and may shed light on other figurines found at HES commissioned excavations such as the Westray Wife discovered at Links of Noltland.” This understated but hugely important figurine nicknamed the ‘Skara Brae Buddo’ is now being displayed for the first time in Stromness Museum alongside artifacts from Skara Brae that have not previously been displayed.  See the 3D interactive view of the figurine below Source: Adapted and edited from the subject press release of the Stromness Museum __________________________________________________ Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.   ______________________________________________ Travel and learn with Far Horizons ____________________________________________ Subscribe to Popular Archaeology Premium Still the industry’s best value at only $9.00 annually We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. SearchBrowseServicesOpen researchInstitution LoginSearchMenu links Too many automated requests from this network - No HTML tags allowed- Web page URLs will display as text only- Lines and paragraphs break automatically- Attachments Your email address will be used in order to notify you when your comment has been reviewed by the moderator and in case the author(s) of the article or the moderator need to contact you directly shared ownership in or any close relationship with any organisation whose interests may be affected by the publication of the response Please also list any non-financial associations or interests (personal religious or other) that a reasonable reader would want to know about in relation to the submitted work This pertains to all the authors of the piece Skara Brae is the ruins of a Neolithic settlement (3100-2500 BCE) located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland Orkney Skara Brae's inhabitants are thought to have been makers and users of "grooved ware," a distinctive pottery style developed in northern Scotland not long before the establishment of the settlement Skara Brae consists of ten clustered houses built of flat stones stacked within earthen dams Given the number of homes in the community it seems likely that no more than fifty people lived in Skara Brae at any given time The dwellings contain a number of stone-built pieces of furniture A number of enigmatic carved stone artifacts have been found at the site The purpose of these remains debated among scholars It is also thought to be one of the earliest settlements to have a toilet and sewer system of some sort Each individual hut released its waste into a central drainage system that carried it to the ocean The stone drains were thought to be 14 to 24 inches high and lined with tree bark to make them watertight Skara Brae is a UNESCO World Heritage site 19 miles north west of Kirkwall on the B9056 Tel: +44 (0)1856 841 815 +44 (0)1856 841 501 (Skaill House) A town church once nearly submerged by the damming of a river is now hauntingly visible as the water recedes Highly unusual subterranean stupa and adjacent cave monastery This hunter-gatherer architecture is believed to be the oldest religious complex known Preserved portions of Athens's ancient defenses are on display in a subterranean parking garage Ancient rock-hewn town that witnessed key events of Georgian history Nazca pilgrimage site covering 370 acres is a popular stop for archeologists and looters The "World's Largest Underground Business Complex," a 55,000,000-square-foot city underneath Missouri What might be the largest completely Jewish town in the world outside of Israel now faces dwindling numbers and empty streets Notre Dame Cathedral on fire in April 2019. Image credit: Wandrille de Préville, Wikimedia Commons serpentine green slopes overlay the remains of a community so complete that many of the houses feature stone beds and cupboards—even though the village is older than both Stonehenge and the pyramids of Giza wind and water have slowly eaten into the hills around the ruins putting them at risk of eventual destruction the preservation organization Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has been visiting Skara Brae deveoping strategies to protect what’s sometimes known as the “Scottish Pompeii” from encroaching erosion One of their most successful efforts has nothing to do with wood or stone and everything to do with light HES conservators bring laser scanners to the remote northern island to gather a 3D image of Skara Brae including both its structures and the surrounding dunes and cliffs Comparing the resulting data set to its predecessors has helped them identify to the millimeter how the landscape has changed “To be able to monitor what’s going on is essential,” says Sophia Mirashrafi, who helps coordinate HES’s digital projects and get them ready for presentation to the public “Scanning doesn’t stop the water from eroding the site but it can be used to help inform decisions about how it can be protected.” She and her team also used the scans—known as point-cloud models—to create interactive virtual experiences that give the public up-close access to parts of the village When we think about preserving cultural heritage we usually think about the physical: propping up carved stone laser scanning (also known as LIDAR) has become an essential tool at cultural sites around the world helping conservators make better decisions and enriching experiences of the sites for both scientists and the public Historic Environment Scotland has used drones equipped with LIDAR scanners and photogrammetry to create aerial 3D models of the Skara Brae Neolithic site Image courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland Laser sensors mounted on rotating heads collect data on more than 100 three-dimensional points per second over a 180-degrees axis by measuring the amount of time it takes for light to leave the sensor bounce off a given spot on a structure or object Users move scanners of different resolutions (some for capturing fine details other for larger landscapes) gradually around the site to produce a digital cloud of points allowing them to combine those data sets in an algorithmic process called registration and create a 360-degree “picture” of that site—kind of like doing a 3D jigsaw puzzle Even though the lasers collect so much data so quickly It took a team more than two weeks to scan Notre Dame using some 400 scanning stations to capture as many data points as possible the next step is to turn the cloud of points into a “watertight mesh” using a computer program—converting them from a dense constellation to an interconnected surface Conservators often combine this mesh with data from another digital data-gathering technique called photogrammetry which can harvest information about a structure’s texture and general shape from overlapping photos of that structure LIDAR (which stands for Light Detection and Ranging) “gives you quantifiable accuracy,” says architect and computer engineer John Ristevski CEO of the digital heritage nonprofit CyArk whose mission revolves around scanning sites of historical and cultural interest around the world photogrammetry provides great textures and beautiful geometry “The point cloud represents the main source to rebuild something using geometrical information in a precise and accurate way,” De Luca says “If by other kinds of restoration we were able to approximate shapes in the past now we’re able to reproduce shapes millimeter by millimeter.” Point-cloud modeling can also help conservators do experiments that would be impossible in real life a new phase of reconstruction began this month to rebuild the stone ribs that once held up arches in the ceiling members of the cathedral team will scan each individual stone a process that will allow them to rebuild the ribs virtually—ensuring they do not compromise the rest of the structure before they are rebuilt in real life more accurately test how they will behave in rebuilding,” De Luca says point-cloud modeling has not just been essential in erosion monitoring; it has also become an important teaching tool Using LIDAR scanners and drones capable of photogrammetry the organization has been able to scan the tops of walls (known as “wall heads”) allowing conservators a much more complete view of the structure than ever possible before and it’s difficult to get people up there,” says Mirashrafi Having access to point-cloud models of the upper parts of the buildings has allowed conservators and stone masons working on the many sites HES cares for to get up close to ceilings they couldn’t access otherwise and to better monitor the health of those wall heads—even using their virtual counterparts as teaching tools for masons-in-training Staffers from the digital heritage nonprofit CyArk traveled to Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in early 2020 they taught workshops in point-cloud modeling which will allow local resource managers and Indigenous groups to monitor the erosion of the island’s 500 moai CyArk was founded by Iraqi-American Ben Kacyra as a way to fight the kind of cultural destruction that was typical of the Taliban and ISIS in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last decades. But as modeling technology has become cheaper and more portable, the company’s mission has changed as well, Ristevski says, with less emphasis on secure data storage and individual projects and more on open access and education CyArk has stored copies of each site it scans in a secure facility 200 feet underground—the same facility that but it’s a less interesting piece of our work,” Ristevski says CyArk also began putting its data sets online under a Creative Commons license “Things that are burrowed away somewhere is one avenue but now it’s more about sharing and opening up data,” he says faces continual damage from wind and waves so CyArk did a set of initial point-cloud models to act as a baseline allowing for annual monitoring of how each of the island’s enormous stone statues is weathering Helping local authorities monitor their own site makes it possible to scan all 500 sites on the island whereas CyArk might only have had time or resources for one or two burnt wood that once made up the “forest” in the cathedral’s attic—and makes it available within a few minutes of its collection Point-cloud images of huge stone statues at Rapa Nui even farther north into the cold reaches of the Atlantic ocean a 40-foot-tall Iron Age stone tower built around 300 BCE on a bluff overlooking the sea Even for the few visitors that make it to the Shetland Islands But point-cloud modeling has allowed Mirashrafi’s team not just to gather essential records of the building for posterity but also to open the site (or a version of it) to the public Mirashrafi says she’s been especially impressed with point-cloud modeling’s potential for storytelling Being able to digitally recreate a structure or item with such accuracy helps her team fight archaeology’s tendency to strip items of their cultural context Though the digital can never replace the physical—“When you go out and scan a site it doesn’t negate the necessity for historians and conservators”—a digital replica is a powerful tool whether it’s used to help recreate a site before a rock fall or to help the public experience a little bit of new history a lost or destroyed site can be reconstructed; an artifact can be put back virtually where it was originally found “These kinds of virtual environments encourage manipulation and questioning,” in a richer way than you might see behind glass Receive emails about upcoming NOVA programs and related content as well as featured reporting about current events through a science lens National Corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Carlisle Companies Major funding for NOVA is provided by the NOVA Science Trust The best-preserved Neolithic settlement in Europe isn't in a French cave or an Italian hillside; it's Skara Brae on Orkney tearing a layer of soil and sand off a site beside the Bay of Skaill and revealing the remains of a Stone Age village it was found to be the most complete in Northern Europe The first houses were built about 5,000 years ago They were built into middens — a compost made of household waste and animal dung Furniture was made not out of wood — there are few trees on windswept Orkney — but sheets of local stone with apparently no use for weapons and little obvious hierarchy Getting to Orkney itself is something of a marathon if you use the train but there are direct flights to Kirkwall from Aberdeen — and from there it's simple to connect to the rest of the world Fiona Reynolds takes a walk through the normally-busy Neolithic stone circle discovering things not normally noticeable among the crowds of A team from the University of York have found evidence of milk consumption in prehistoric British farmers John Lord is one of very few people in Britain who makes a full-time living out of only one stone one of the world’s most important archaeological sites is at high risk from climate change according to the results of a new impact assessment launched this week at the annual World Heritage Committee meeting Dr. Alistair Rennie from Scottish Natural Heritage and the Dynamic Coast project explains the processes of accelerated coastal erosion at Skara Brae More than 5000 years old and one of the best preserved Neolithic site in Europe, Skara Brae is part of a World Heritage property that also includes the Stones of Stenness the Ring of Brodgar and the Maeshowe chamber tomb – known for its alignment with the sun’s rays at the Winter Solstice and its Viking graffiti These spectacular places are on the Orkney Islands – an archipelago just a few miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland famed for its extraordinary density of archaeological sites More than 3,000 archaeological sites have been identified so far on Orkney, and a survey carried out by the SCAPE Trust found at least a third of them to be already damaged by coastal erosion or at risk of being so for example Iron Age Brochs (defended stone round houses) and boat nousts (haul outs) are endangered The new assessment focused solely on the World Heritage property and found it to be “extremely vulnerable” to sea level rise precipitation change and increased frequency and intensity of storms The finding was announced at the 43rd World Heritage Committee meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan on July 2nd where more than 150 nations gathered to discuss the protection of some of the planet’s most iconic and important natural and cultural sites Coastal erosion at the end of the sea wall protecting the Neolithic village of Skara Brae UCS first identified the need for a systematic review of climate risk to all World Heritage properties in a 2016 report published with UNESCO and UNEP at a meeting that UCS participated in on the German Baltic island of Vilm where experts gathered to discuss priorities for the revision of the World Heritage Committee’s decade-old climate policy the idea for a vulnerability index for sites at risk from climate change was introduced Two researchers at Australia’s James Cook University oceanographer Scott Heron and Jon Day – a former director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park – had taken up the challenge to design a rapid assessment methodology that could be used for all types of World Heritage sites Following more development, the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) was first tested at the natural World Heritage site, Shark Bay in Western Australia in 2018 and ICOMOS (one of the three official Advisory Bodies to the World Heritage Committee) included it as a project of its new Climate Change and Heritage Working Group The foundation of the CVI is to look at how key climate change impacts the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of World Heritage properties (a property’s OUV describes the characteristics for which it was inscribed on the World Heritage List). If OUV is significantly degraded or lost, a property can be put on the World Heritage in Danger list In addition to assessing climate risk to the OUV a very important aspect of the CVI is that it also looks at the economic social and cultural vulnerability of the community associated with the World Heritage site HES will be integrating the CVI findings into the revision of the management plan for the Heart of Neolithic Orkney (a process that began in 2019), and the agency has proposed that CVI workshops also be undertaken for two additional Scottish World Heritage sites in 2020 – the Antonine Wall, and the island of St. Kilda The pilot CVI workshops in Shark Bay and Orkney have demonstrated that for the first time we have a climate risk assessment methodology customized for World Heritage than can be effectively applied across very different types of sites repeatable and flexible enough to work everywhere from an underwater archaeology site to a tropical forest park – critical attributes if it is to be adopted within the World Heritage community leading to assessments of OUV and Community vulnerabilities It has the potential to be a hugely valuable tool for World Heritage managers and the governments that are parties to the Convention to help them accurately understand and plan for the climate risk they are facing at each property If applied to all World Heritage sites the CVI could help prioritize action on climate resilience and spur greater urgency amongst the States Parties in meeting their commitments under the Paris Agreement Adam Markham is a former deputy director of the Climate & Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists For text alerts, text "SCIENCE" to 67369 or sign up online Receive urgent alerts about opportunities to defend science. Recurring messages. Reply STOP to cancel. Msg & data rates may apply. Terms, Conditions, and Privacy Policy We use cookies to improve your experience. By continuing, you accept our use of cookies. Learn more. Redshirt-junior forward David Skara will not return for his senior season and will instead pursue his dream of playing professional basketball, head coach Brad Brownell announced on Tuesday. Skara will graduate in May with a degree in economics. “I’d like to thank David for his contributions to our program over the last two seasons,” said Brownell. “He had a big impact on this program in his time in Clemson and played a crucial role in this team advancing to the Sweet 16. We’re proud of David for graduating from Clemson come May and for how hard he has worked to put himself in this position.” Skara appeared in 26 games this season, including seven starts for Coach Brownell’s squad. He averaged 3.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest, while shooting 42.3 percent from the floor in nearly 20 minutes of action per game. He scored a season-high 11 points in a blowout win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Dec. 22. While being a threat offensively, Skara prided himself on the defensive side of the ball – constantly guarding some of the best players in the league and country. While dining at Skara Estiatorio a year-old Greek restaurant in downtown Caldwell And then I realized that the word comes from the Greek What Skara makes manifest is that traditional Greek cooking with its array of salads and spreads and its charcoal-grilled fish and meat a 70-seat storefront with a lovely blue Aegean mural is the all-around best of the dozens of Greek tavernas and fancier estiatorios I’ve reviewed in the United States and Canada over the years When a Manhattan restaurant of that name got wind of it and trademarked the name owners John Kananis and Manos Angelopolos rechristened their place Skara—skara being the Greek word for the traditional charcoal grill they use the partners upgraded from Taverna to Estiatorio “because that’s where the Greeks go for the best food But tavernas classically have a more luncheonette feel We cook our food with the TLC of tavernas in Greece but the dining experience is more of an estiatorio.” In addition to off-white linen tablecloths and blonde wood chairs with upholstered seats and that tiled mural of Mykonos and Santorini “What we’re cooking is the real Greek food that Greeks eat,” Kananis said “a place wouldn’t last a week serving reheated moussaka cut from a lasagna pan or sad pink tomatoes or yesterday’s shrimp Greeks go to the hole-in-the-wall on the side street where Yia-Yia [Grandma] or Uncle Yiannis is cooking the century-old recipes.” Kananis’s parents emigrated from Athens just before he was born in 1972 where the stove was busier than the TV.” He worked “front of the house in mom-and-pops” and managed Ruth’s Chris Steak Houses in Weehawken “Then I dabbled in tech startups for a while,” he related Kananis was about to move to Greece for a few years when Angelopolos called His old friend was planning to launch a Greek restaurant in Caldwell “nonrefundable airline ticket and all,” Kananis says with a chuckle grew up in Athens and cooked all over the Greek capital including “the highest volume restaurant in the city inside the central food market,” he told me “was one of the few restaurants allowed to stay open all night—so the disco people would come here after the clubs.” founded a house-painting company and did some catering he makes the rounds of several fish and produce markets Angelopolos makes every menu item in-house makes the domestic stuff seem like Wonder Bread) Also not made in house is the beef “gyro cone.” “Turning classic Greek beef recipes into lamb is an American adaptation,” Kananis asserted I sampled 10 of Skara’s two dozen hot and cold appetizers from lush tarama dip made with carp roe and olive oil to red-orange hummus silky and smoky with puréed sun-dried tomato Its baby spinach leaves and sliced strawberries in a mustard dressing mellowed with Aegean honey came topped with two generous slices of Manouri cheese dusted with panko crumbs and sautéed in olive oil Skara’s excellent Angus-beef meatballs (Kananis considers trendy lamb meatballs “fake Greek”) are mixed with non-salty Colios feta and pan-fried I’d recommend anything pan fried here: calamari; feta in phyllo; the zucchini patties called kolothiko keftedes Skara’s highest priced ($18) and best-selling starter a tentacle is brushed with lemon-infused olive oil and grilled on the charcoal-burning skara The intense heat (up to about 1,200 degrees) produces a gorgeous char that adds to the eating pleasure squid and giant shrimp comprise the excellent $39 Sea Pikilia Only three fish appear on Skara’s menu: North Atlantic salmon lavraki (branzino) and tsipoura (Royale Dorade) Each lends itself to grilling (the branzino and dorade whole You can have at the whole fish or have it deftly filleted tableside it’s so good nothing will be left but head and bones It is exactingly composed of layers of eggplant ground Angus beef and béchamel made from Greek Gruyère Only about six roughly one-pound portions are baked daily a good reason to get to the restaurant early Other notables include the tender chunks of lamb souvlaki; and another marvel of primal meatiness The evanescent specials included a sumptuous braised lamb shank If you usually skip Greek desserts as sticky and cloying and a semolina cake aromatic with orange rind conjured Mediterranean bliss on a plate a three-layer marvel of kataifi (threadlike crispy phyllo) under thick vanilla custard under whipped cream sprinkled with walnuts I tasted it and passed the colossal serving around Everything I tasted at Skara was the apotheosis of its kind another great word we can thank the Greeks for—much as we can thank Skara for its (Greek vocabulary alert) iconic food is the only Scottish visitor attraction in the running to be named Heritage Site of the Year in the BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards Bill Bryson was tasked by the magazine to nominate his top five heritage sites from across the length and breadth of the country representing the UK’s historic environment Members of the public have until Tuesday 28th February to cast their vote online and choose a winner which forms part of the UNESCO World Heritage site known as the Heart of Neolithic Orkney is up against strong competition in the Heritage Site of the Year award category Bryson’s other top contenders are Stonehenge the historic seaside town of Tenby and the artificial lake of Rutland Water Now in their sixth year the awards initiative which aims to celebrate the best of the British countryside and its people features 12 categories with nominees being compiled by experts in each field Other categories include National Park of the Year Director of Commercial and Tourism at Historic Environment Scotland said: “It’s fantastic that Skara Brae is among those nominated for this UK wide accolade – made doubly special as we celebrate Scotland’s Year of History “With a history stretching back 5,000 years Skara Brae continues to captivate audiences and visitors from across the country and further afield More than 68,000 people explore the historic site for themselves each year gaining a real insight into how our remote ancestors might once have lived “We’re encouraging our visitors and members of the public to back Skara Brae and cast their vote to help see it named Heritage Site of the Year.” said: “Orkney has the greatest concentration of archaeological sites in Scotland but none is more arresting than this miraculously preserved Neolithic village They are older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Egypt and yet they feel as if they were vacated only yesterday.” Public voting closes before midnight on Tuesday 28th February 2017 The winners of each category will be announced in an online ceremony in March and will feature in the May edition of the Magazine 2017 is the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology (HHA) a year that will celebrate Scotland’s people attractions and icons as well as our hidden gems and amazing stories From World Heritage Sites to ancient monuments 2017 is the year to explore Scotland’s fascinating past This is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland and a variety of partners Get involved on Twitter with #HHA2017 Twitter: @HistEnvScot | @welovehistory  BlogInstagramLinkedIn Grant ThomsonHistoric Environment Scotland Media OfficeDirect Line: 0131 668 8603Mobile: 07580 702 611grant.thomson@hes.scot WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., April 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Piedmont Advantage Credit Union (PACU) is pleased to announce the recent appointments of two key executives to its leadership team They are new hire Charles Skara as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and newly promoted Sandy Milton as Chief Operating Officer (COO) These strategic appointments underscore PACU's ongoing commitment to strengthen its financial and operational capabilities to serve its members and communities, a privilege PACU has been doing since 1949 or for the last 75 years CFO Skara brings more than 15 years of experience in banking and manufacturing forecasting and reporting will be instrumental in steering the organization's financial health and sustainability Skara earned his bachelor of science degree in accounting from Rutgers University in New Brunswick COO Milton comes into this position with a wealth of experience in operations management honed 40 years within the credit union industry More than 11 years of this experience has been at PACU as most recently as Senior Vice President of Service Strategy responsible for overseeing the branch network Milton's background in improving operational efficiencies enhancing member services and leading digital transformational initiatives will play a pivotal role in optimizing PACU's day-to-day operations PACU's President & CEO Dion William emphasized the importance of these appointments "Charles' and Sandy's combined expertise and leadership qualities are exactly what we need to navigate the opportunities and challenges ahead I am confident that they will both bring valuable perspectives and innovative strategies that will contribute significantly to our organization's growth and success." About Piedmont Advantage Credit UnionHeadquartered in Winston-Salem and founded in 1949 to meet the financial needs of Piedmont Aviation and Piedmont Airline employees Piedmont Advantage Credit Union has grown to serve member-owners attend school or operate a business in one of the six counties it serves in North Carolina or who are employed by one of its many employer companies Piedmont Advantage still has a strong presence in aviation with its six branches and 10 ATMs throughout the service region Piedmont Advantage Credit Union (PACU) is proud to announce the promotion of Robert Payne to Chief Technology Officer (CTO) At Piedmont Advantage Credit Union's annual PACU Day event credit union employees gather for a day dedicated to.. Banking & Financial Services Personnel Announcements Do not sell or share my personal information: with the whalebone figurine from Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands The figurine has been dubbed "Buddo," from the Orkney word for "friend." It is one of only eight Neolithic human figurines ever found in Britain: four figurines have been found in the Orkneys and the others were discovered in southern England The Skara Brae archaeological site is one of the world's best-preserved Neolithic villages after a major storm swept away the tops of sand dunes that were covering the site The ancient houses are made of stone and are recessed into the ground possibly as protection and insulation against the weather The Neolithic village houses are fitted with stone furniture or "dressers," which can be seen here at "House 8" at Skara Brae The Skara Brae Buddo was found on the floor of a bed compartment in "House 3" at the site who rediscovered the Buddo figurine this year thinks it may have been left behind on purpose as part of a ritual when the inhabitants abandoned the village The Buddo is carved from what is thought to be a whalebone vertebrae A hole runs through the head of the figurine from ear to ear Clarke thinks another hole in the base may have been used to separately attach legs to the figurine archaeologists excavating the Links of Noltland site reported the discovery of three Neolithic figurines that have become known as the "Westray Wives." This image shows the largest of the Westray figurines measuring around 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) in height and carved from sandstone Archaeologists think this figurine is slightly older than the Skara Brae Buddo Other finds from the Skara Brae site include bone necklaces says bone artifacts from the Neolithic period are very rare and that the many bone finds from Skara Brae were likely preserved by the alkaline sand that covered the site Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox Live Science ContributorTom Metcalfe is a freelance journalist and regular Live Science contributor who is based in London in the United Kingdom Archaeologists discover hundreds of metal objects up to 3,400 years old on mysterious volcanic hilltop in Hungary May's full 'Flower Moon' will be a micromoon The album ‘Skara Brae’ was released fifty years ago this month and on Friday 17 December Barrscéalta on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta will mark the occasion with a special programme about that seminal album with members of the group in studio and their friend Dáithí Sproule recorded the album ‘Skara Brae’ in one afternoon in 1971 and it was released on the Gael Linn label but spent a lot of time in their father’s homeplace of Rann na Feirste and they grew up immersed in the language and the culture of the area with their aunt Neilí imparting much of her huge store of songs to them during his many summers in the Gaeltacht in Rann na Feirste they became Skara Brae and recorded their one The album presented the traditional songs of the Donegal Gaeltacht in a new and contemporary way with guitar accompaniment and vocal harmonies and paved the way for many more bands who followed they were all in their mid to late teens/early twenties and their own musical influences at the time played a part in what would become their unique style and sound with sales of approximately 10,000 copies to date On Barrscéalta on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta on Friday 17 December at 11 am Michelle Nic Grianna will be joined by sister Maighréad and Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill by Jim McCloskey who also played with the band Tune in live or listen back at www.rte.ie/rnag This story contains spoilers for The Bad Batch. If you're not caught up yet, check out our spoiler-free The Bad Batch Season 2 review. There’s a blast from the past in the latest episode of The Bad Batch Season 2. Diving into the history of the Jedi Order and those that came before, fans are rightly asking who the “Ancients” are and what they could mean for the wider mythos of the galaxy far, far away.  “Entombed” wasted no time making Wanda Sykes’ Phee Genoa the star of the show with this treasure-hunting pirate filling that Doctor Aphra-shaped hole in our lives Much like that morally ambiguous archaeologist Phee gives us some insight into the state of the galaxy in years gone by Alongside mentions of the Grand Pearl of Novak and Blade of Zakata Par one of Phee's stories stood out more than the others the Bad Batch journeys to the uncharted Kaldar Trinary and searches for the mythical Heart of the Mountain in Skara Nal Skara Nal is eventually revealed as a walker-esque weapon of mass destruction and although nothing about its creators is confirmed Phee says the “Ancients” predate the Jedi Order itself It’s possible the Ancients are the Je'daii Order, who hailed from the planet Tython and eventually evolved into the modern Jedi Order. Remembering that Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) took Grogu to Tython in The Mandalorian Season 2 there’s already a foundation to build on in mainline Star Wars canon this seems unlikely when comparing The Bad Batch’s glimpse of Skara Nal and the dark side creatures of the Kaldar Trinary to the Je’daii’s motives of bringing balance to the Force Instead, the Ancients could be tied to Tony Gilroy’s Andor and a throwaway reference to the Rakata species Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård) gave Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) a downpayment of a Kuati signet embedded with a blue and white sky kyber crystal As well as saying it comes from an “ancient world,” he confirms it “celebrated the uprising against the Rakatan invaders.” Introduced in BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic video game back in 2003 the Rakata are a fish-like species that first mastered hyperspace travel the Rakata were a sometimes villainous race that used the dark side to mix their technological prowess with spiritual evil As Knights of the Old Republic is set some 4,000 years before Lucas’ movies  — and the Rakata existed 30,000 years before that — the timelines marry up with them being the Ancients that Phee refers to a portion of the 2003 game takes place in a location called the Temple of the Ancients on the planet Lehon the Rakata developed a devastating weapon known as the Star Forge The Rakata enslaved Force-sensitive creatures and used the dark side emotions of their victims to power machines Others were used to help build the Star Forge as an automated shipyard that constantly churned out vehicles and soldiers to man the Rakata's “Infinite Empire.” Knights of the Old Republic ended as players picked between destroying the Star Forge to embrace the light side or taking control of it for themselves on the dark side the Star Forge corrupted the species and led to a brutal civil war which alongside a deadly plague that shattered their connection to the Force The Bad Batch shows something has decimated the Kaldar Trinary and with the Rakata known for stripping planets for their resources it adds credibility to the theory that they are The Jedi Order we know was founded by the shadowy Prime Jedi in the year 25,000 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin), so we know The Bad Batch isn’t setting up the much-hyped The Acolyte that’s set around 100 years before The Phantom Menace that doesn’t mean the Ancients can’t lead to more live-action or animated projects but because The Bad Batch is set around 19 BBY and coincides with the start of construction on the Death Star the destructive power of Skara Nal and the Ancients could have a much bigger part than we know Even though Skara Nal is all but destroyed by the time the credits roll Phee’s tease of the Ancients is a neat segue into these relics of the Expanded Universe Star Wars Rebels Season 2's "Twilight of the Apprentice” previously teased the Star Forge with an Easter egg inside the Sith temple that looked a lot like the Rakatan's space factory There’s been a lot of talk about a live-action Knights of the Old Republic adaptation and with two potential nods to the Rakata in Andor and now The Bad Batch Star Wars: The Last Jedi might've skimmed over Luke Skywalker inhabiting the first Jedi Temple on Ahch-To Lucas gave author Terry Brooks an extensive history of the Sith and Jedi for his novelization of The Phantom Menace Much like the sometimes fanciful stories of Phee there tends to be a little truth in these forgotten fables We’ll just have to wait and see whether The Bad Batch’s tease of the Ancients pays off further down the line A long lost Neolithic human figurine found at Skara Brae in the 1860s has been rediscovered in the collections of Stromness Museum Dr David Clarke identified the figurine among artefacts from Skaill House whilst undertaking research on Skara Brae funded by Historic Environment Scotland Collections Manager for Historic Environment Scotland said “We became aware of the existence of a possible figurine while working with Dr Clarke on a forthcoming publication about Skara Brae but until now we had only seen the 'bone idol' in sketches made by George Petrie in the 1860s "The rediscovery of the figure is significant as it emphasises many of the similarities in the late Neolithic assemblages and structures from Skara Brae and Links of Noltland such as the Westray Wife discovered at Links of Noltland.” Nicknamed the ‘Skara Brae Buddo’ – ‘buddo’ means ‘friend’ or ‘person’ in the Orcadian dialect – the figurine will now go on public display for the first time in Stromness Museum Visit the Stromness Museum website to read the full story © AART Architects / Schonherr LandscapeBy broadening the architectural scope the school creates an engaging learning environment the school promotes different teaching styles walls and furniture are designed as sensuous and pedagogical elements which can be included in the daily schooling the school has integrated touchscreens at the public square and weather stations in the park so the students easily can gather data about the building´s energy consumption and the local climate a mini zoo and science garden allow the students to get their hands dirty and study the vegetation and animals in a natural environment The school is designed as an atrium building rooted in a public square creating an inclusive and cohesive learning environment The atrium creates visual contact between the floors while the public square is designed as the heart of the school scene and close contact with the green park the public square creates a vibrant base where the students and teachers can share knowledge meet for a cosy chat and develop common traditions such as student concerts or theatrical performances You'll now receive updates based on what you follow Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors If you have done all of this and still can't find the email 2015 – Week ten of the 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) concluded on Sunday with a win for Ireland’s Paul O’Shea and Skara Glen’s Sienna in the $34,000 Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic Competing at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) in Wellington to victory in a five-horse jump-off with Laura Kraut (USA) and Deauville S in second and Lillie Keenan (USA) aboard Super Sox third Sixty-four entries showed over Michel Vaillancourt’s (CAN) 1.50m track on Sunday with five clear to advance to the jump-off Laura Kraut and Julius Peter Sinnack’s Deauville S were first to jump-off clearing the short course in 38.42 seconds Lillie Keenan jumped next with Chansonette Farm LLC’s Super Sox with a clear round in 38.59 seconds Ben Maher (GBR) followed with the fourth place round on Jane Clark’s Sarena in 39.11 seconds Paris Sellon (USA) and Adare had one rail down in 46.15 seconds to place fifth O’Shea and Skara Glen’s Sienna cleared the course in the winning time of 37.63 seconds Skara Glen’s Sienna is a nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare (Chacco Blue x Gran Corrado) that O’Shea has ridden since she was five years old the mare scored the biggest win of her career in the $75,000 Jumper Classic at the Upperville Horse Show „She has always been really special,“ O’Shea stated You can feel straight away that she just wants to do the right thing.“ Sunday’s course was challenging for most of the class It was not until halfway through that Laura Kraut produced the first clear round and a few more followed O’Shea was second to last in the order and was able to watch and figure out a plan „I probably had an advantage that I was towards the end because the last line was tricky,“ he admitted „It was either an extremely short four-stride or a very long three It was nice to have a bit of time to make up my mind on that I decided to do the three and she did it really well She is still quite young,“ O’Shea explained „I just wanted to go as quick as she could „She is only nine,“ O’Shea pointed out „She did qualify for the night class last night but we thought next year would be time enough She will not do any night classes this year We just want to produce her slowly so that as a ten-year-old she is ready for most things but she has done everything we have asked her to do very well.“ Ira Gumberg owns Sienna through his Skara Glen Stables which O’Shea has been riding with for three and a half years „He has been a fantastic owner to me He has really taken care of me,“ O’Shea acknowledged „It is a pleasure to have such a great horse and a great owner.“ O’Shea also rides a young horse named Bachelor for the Tisbo Family They bred the horse themselves and have watched O’Shea bring him along for their Tequestrian Farms LLC „It is very nice of them to sponsor this class every week,“ O’Shea added The Suncast® 1.50m Championship Jumper Series always an exciting and competitive division throughout the 12-week WEF circuit has a fantastic prize for the leading rider of the series this year Suncast® will provide a pre-paid two-year lease on a beautiful new 2015 Range Rover Evoque the Range Rover Evoque will be on display at the Spectator Entrance of the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center and will be on course in the International Arena during the $100,000 Suncast® 1.50m Jumper Championship Series Final (Round 2) to be held on Saturday evening which is when the Evoque will be awarded to the series‘ leading rider Series specifications and rankings can be found in the WEF Horse Show office The top riders in the series will be recognized on the Suncast® 1.50m Jumper Championship Series leaderboard by the PBIEC Exhibitor Entrance and will also be included in the WEF Weekly Wire the printed newsletter available on the show grounds and online at www.PBIEC.com Also showing in the International Arena on Sunday the $10,000 Hollow Creek Farm Medium Junior Jumper Classic began the day with a win for Brianne Link and her horse E Bay The $10,000 Animo USA Medium Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic was held in a California Split with a win for Danielle Torano aboard her own and Jimmy Torano’s Herault in Section A and Vanessa Mannix with her own HHS Cheiro in Section B Elizabeth Chung and Extraordinary ended the day as reserve champions in the Coldwell Banker Children’s Hunter 14 & Under was first and third over fences in the final two classes of the division Bellagio is a 10-year-old Warmblood who was bought by Ganek last summer Ganek shows Bellagio in the hunter ring for more practice „He [Bellagio] is really easy,“ Ganek stated Having only been working together for less than a year Ganek attributes her success to Bellagio’s attitude and experience „He [Bellagio] is a really good boy and knows what he’s doing He knows what his job is when he goes in the ring,“ Ganek commented Ganek comes down to Wellington to compete on weekends with her trainers at Heritage Farm „This was my final week coming to WEF for 2015 so I was happy to end on a good note,“ Ganek smiled The 2015 Winter Equestrian Festival continues with its eleventh week of competition The highlight event of week eleven is the $127,000 Engel & Völkers Grand Prix CSI 4* on Saturday For full results and more information, please visit www.PBIEC.com Essenzielle Cookies ermöglichen grundlegende Funktionen und sind für die einwandfreie Funktion der Website erforderlich Inhalte von Videoplattformen und Social-Media-Plattformen werden standardmäßig blockiert Wenn Cookies von externen Medien akzeptiert werden bedarf der Zugriff auf diese Inhalte keiner manuellen Einwilligung mehr As The Clemson Insider reported Monday night forward David Skara has told the Clemson coaches he is returning to the basketball program for his final season He and the team are now just waiting on the official paperwork to be completed What is the official paperwork they have to wait on TCI has been told by multiple sources it has nothing to do with the NCAA TCI was told by one source Clemson is trying to enroll Skara as either an undergraduate to earn a second undergrad degree or as a graduate student TCI was told this should not be an issue either way and Skara could be enrolled in school fairly quickly he then has to reapply for his travel visa When he graduated from Clemson in May and returned to his native country of Croatia Once he has the necessary paperwork to prove he is enrolled in school in the United States he has to request a meeting with the Croatian Embassy to be approved for a return to America TCI was told this process can take anywhere from a week to a month to complete Skara announced on April 11 his plans to leave Clemson and turn professional close to his home in Croatia Skara played a big role in why the Tigers advanced to the Sweet 16 Round of the NCAA Tournament including seven starts for Brad Brownell’s squad He averaged 3.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest while shooting 42.3 percent from the floor in nearly 20 minutes of action per game He scored a season-high 11 points in a blowout win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Dec Skara prided himself on the defensive side of the ball – constantly guarding some of the best players in the league and country Hot off the press. ‘Back with a Vengeance’ is now available for online orders.  TCI takes an in-depth look at the upcoming season as the Tigers march towards another national championship.  Order your copy today