Scottish island reveals 11,000- year-old traces of earliest settlers

Evidence has been discovered for one of the earliest human populations yet known in Scotland.

Traces of one of Scotland’s earliest human populations of ‘pioneers’ who walked thousands of miles before settling on a Scottish island have been found after a set of stone tools were dated to more than 11,000 years ago.

The tools were discovered on croftland in the Uig area of the Isle of Skye by a team of archaeologists led by Karen Hardy, professor of prehistoric archaeology at the University of Glasgow.

Stone tools were found in the north of Skye, in the area around Uig (pictured), and have been dated to around 11,000 to 11,500 years old. Picture: DavideGorla/Flickr/CC | DavideGorla/Flickr/CC

The tools have been dated to the Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP), around 11,500 to 11,000 years ago.

READ MORE: Hunter gatherers roamed Cairngorms more than 10,000 years ago

The stone tools found on Skye. PIC: Karen Hardy. | Karen Hardy

An ‘enigmatic’ group of stone circular structures, which appear to now lie beyond modern seal level, were also discovered by Prof Hardy and Skye-based archaeologist Martin Wildgoose, following analysis of the local landscape and glacial changes.

Following the discovery, the west coast now represents the largest concentration of evidence for these pioneer human populations anywhere in Scotland. The findings reveal how early humans of this period ventured much further north than previously believed.

Prof Hardy said: “This is a hugely significant discovery, which offers a new perspective on the earliest human occupation yet known, of north-west Scotland.”

The team, from the universities of Leeds, Sheffield, Leeds Beckett and Flinders in Australia, worked together to reconstruct the local landscape, glacial formations and changing sea levels.

The circular alignment at Sconser, which is believed to be linked to the nomadic hunter-gatherers most likely of the Ahrensburgian culture from northern Europe, who arrived on the Isle of Skye around 11,000 years ago. PIC: Jamie Booth | Jamie Booth

Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) immediately follows the Younger Dryas period - or the Loch Lomond Stadial - when much of west Scotland was buried under ice.

Then, groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers most likely of the Ahrensburgian culture from northern Europe, crossed Doggerland, an area that is now covered by the North Sea, and established themselves on Skye.

Prof Hardy said: “The journey made by these pioneering people who left their lowland territories in mainland Europe to travel northwards into the unknown is the ultimate adventure story.

“As they journeyed northwards, most likely following animal herds, they eventually reached Scotland, where the western landscape was dramatically changing as glaciers melted and the land rebounded as it recovered from the weight of the ice.

“A good example of the volatility they would have encountered can be found in Glen Roy, where the world-famous Parallel Roads provide physical testament to the huge landscape changes and cataclysmic floods that they would have encountered, as they travelled across Scotland.”

Professor Karen Hardy, an expert in prehistoric archaeology at Glasgow University, led the discovery. | Contributed

The Parallel Roads are a result of an ancient, ice-dammed lake that carved stepped, narrow terraces into the landscape along its shoreline.

As the climate sufficiently warmed, the ice receded and the glacial lake drained, leaving behind the shorelines - or ‘roads’ - that are embedded through the glen.

Prof Hardy said she believed the settlers deliberately and strategically chose where to base themselves and selected a location that had good access to coastal and riverine resources, as well as natural materials like ochre - highly valued by ancient cultures.

A paper on the findings, published in The Journal of Quarterly Science, said: “While the number of Ahrensburgian find spots is low, they are spread widely across Scotland, including from the islands of Tiree, Orkney and Islay, that also imply significant sea journeys, suggesting a larger population than the number of finds might imply.

“To date, all Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) sites in Scotland have been discovered by chance and there is insufficient evidence to address further questions regarding their adaptations and lifestyles.

“By reconstructing the geographical limitations imposed by ice sheet evolution, changes in relative sea level (RSL) and river courses, it may be possible to focus on other likely locations – both onshore and offshore – and begin to uncover more evidence.”

The paper said evidence of the Ahrensburgian on Skye extended their present to the “extreme north-west continental limit”.

“Here, they adapted to live in a fragmented, fluctuating, and volatile environment amid melting glaciers, mountains, and oceans – vastly different from the low-lying environments of their homelands on the north-western edge of the Great European Plain,” the paper said.

Although the sites themselves cannot be visited, the landscape these early pioneers encountered can be imagined at Sconser - a small crofting township on Skye.

Around 11,000 years ago, after the last of the Cuillin Mountain glaciers had melted, the sea level would still be lower than today, and it would have been possible to walk to Raasay, Prof Hardy said.