On the island of Skye, among the most remote of the Scottish internal hebrides, a team of archaeologists brought to light surprising clues that could rewrite the history of human migration in northern Europe. Stone instruments and submerged circular alignments suggest that groups of hunters-rackers have inhabited the region well over 10,000 years ago, long before the erection of Stonehenge and the advent of agriculture.
Stone instruments and submerged circular alignments
The research, led by the archaeologist Karen Hardy of the University of Glasgow, required over eight years of work along the coasts beaten by the wind of the island of Skye. In South Cuidrach, in the northern part of the island, dozens of finely processed stone instruments were found, including blades, burgins and scraper. These tools, made with local petrified mud, have a style similar to that of culture ahrensburgianawidespread between northern Germany and Denmark in the late Superior Paleolithic.
According to Hardy, the quantity and variety of objects found indicate “a population of consistent size or prolonged employment”. These tools are the first of their kind so found in the north in Scotland, and their presence on Skye shows a much more stable activity than previously thought.
But that’s not all. On the eastern coast of the island, near Notes, they also emerged Circles of submerged stonesvisible only during low spring tides more extreme. Some archaeologists have had to resort to underwater diving to document these structures, of which up to twenty specimens have been identified so far. The circles, with diameters between 3 and 5 meters, date back to all 10,000 years ago, when the sea level was lower and the area represented a mainland.
Scholars note a similarity between these alignments and similar structures found in Norway and dated about 11,000 years ago, strengthening the hypothesis of a paleolithic origin.
How have they arrived so far?
The find questioned the beliefs accepted so far on the Chronology of human presence in Scotlandso far dated at the beginning of Mesolithic, around 10,000 years ago. The new evidence suggests that human groups may have come much earlier, in a landscape still marked by the presence of glaciers.
During the last glacial era, vast ice caps held western Scotland. However, the withdrawal of the ice and the consequent lowering of the marine level created Earth bridges and natural steps. One of these could have been the Strait of Kylerhea, who perhaps at the time was passable on foot.
It is possible that these groups followed the herds to the north, moving as the ice retired.
The stones used to build the tools, coming from the north-eastern coast of the island, testify internal movements through the mountainous surveys of Skye. The choice to settle in the western part could be linked to the availability of fresh water, terrestrial fauna and marine resources.
The echo of a forgotten civilization on the Scottish sides
There culture ahrensburgianadeveloped between 12,200 and 10,500 years ago, represents one of the latest European Paleolithic civilizations. Characterized by advanced lithic technologies, it was preceded by groups such as Hamburgians and Federmesser, also pushed to the north by post-gliacial climate change.
If confirmed, Skye’s finds would be the northernmost test of the Ahrensburgian presence, demonstrating the incredible ability to adapt and mobility of these peoples. Unstable climate, jagged coasts, bay and tundra vegetation constituted the environment in which they had to survive.
Yet they were not simple nomads. Archaeological evidence suggests they knew build boatshunt, fish and use pigments such as ocher, perhaps to treat skin or for symbolic uses.
A new chapter for Scottish prehistory
Until now, the Mesolithic site of Cramond, near Edinburgh, was considered the oldest testimony of human settlement in Scotland, dated through radio control at about 10,000 years ago. However, the artifacts discovered in Skye could anticipate that date of several hundred years.
The main difficulty remains the lack of organic materialswhich prevents the precise dating by radiocarbon. Scholars base their analysis on Geomorphological characteristics, typological comparison with other sites and comparative interpretations.
Despite the absence of human remains or complete housing structures, the evidence accumulated over the years suggest a stable and significant presence. And future prospects are promising: with the use of New technologies such as underwater lidar and sedimentary DNAcrucial details may emerge.
Karen Hardy concludes with suggestive reflection:
This discovery offers us an unprecedented perspective on the oldest human occupation in the North-West of Scotland. They didn’t only stop here passing through. They really lived, at the end of the known world.
The complete study was published in the magazine The Journal of Quaternary Science.
