Iron Age 'settlement' found on remote isle

Published on 16/06/2011 19:06

Evidence of a permanent Iron Age settlement on one of Eur-ope's most inhospitable islands has been uncovered by archaeologists.

It had been thought that no people had ever lived on the St Kildan island of Boreray, 40 miles west of the Outer Hebrides in the Atlantic Ocean.

Inhabitants of nearby Hirta island visited Boreray only in the summer to hunt birds and gather wool. But the new discovery suggests that people may have lived on the steep slopes of the island in prehistoric times.

The remaining 36 inhabitants of the St Kilda archipelago left the islands in 1930.

Archaeologists from the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland made the discovery on an eight-day research trip to Boreray.

Surveyor Ian Parker said: "Until now we thought Boreray was just visited for seasonal hunting and gathering by the people of Hirta.

"But this new discovery shows that a farming community actually lived on the island, perhaps as long ago as the prehistoric period.

"These agricultural remains and settlement mounds give us a tantalising glimpse into the lives of those who lived for a time on Boreray.

"Farming what is probably one of the most remote and inhospitable islands in the North Atlantic would have been a hard and gruelling existence. And given the island's unfeasibly steep slopes, it's amazing that they even tried living there in the first place."

The team found remnants of an agricultural field system and crop terraces. Three possible settlement mounds were also uncovered.