Very very real. You can go there and see it. You can walk around and sit where people sat over 5000 years ago.
I grew up not far from there (it's about a six or seven hour drive, followed by a two hour ferry journey, so it's not something you do every day, but barely 160 miles in a straight line) and it was all Iron Age brochs and such. Skara Brae was already ancient and lost when they were built.
I grew up not far from there (it's about a six or seven hour drive, followed by a two hour ferry journey, so it's not something you do every day, but barely 160 miles in a straight line) and it was all Iron Age brochs and such. Skara Brae was already ancient and lost when they were built.