Skara Brae
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	You are looking at the entrance to the main passage of the village.  The buildings (and passages which connect them) were set into a mound of domestic refuse (midden) which has been faced with stone on the outside. The main passage gave access to the sunken houses through the mound of domestic refuse (midden) in which they were built.  This midden came from an earlier nearby settlement and was dumped here as the first stage of building the village.  It provided stability for the walls and helped insulate the houses.  The stone-lined passages linking the houses would have been roofed over, as can be seen further along.