Posted on 06/16/2011 7:30:18 PM PDT by decimon
The remains of a permanent settlement which could date back to the Iron Age has been uncovered on a remote Scottish island, according to archaeologists.
It was previously thought Boreray in the St Kilda archipelago was only visited by islanders to hunt seabirds and gather wool from sheep.
Archaeologists have now recorded an extensive agricultural field system and terraces for cultivating crops.
They have also found an intact stone building buried under soil and turf.
St Kilda's group of small islands are the remotest part of the British Isles, lying 41 miles (66km) west of the Western Isles.
Hirta, the main island of St Kilda, was occupied until 1930 when the last islanders left after they asked to be evacuated because their way of life was no longer sustainable.
The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) said simple tools found on Hirta suggested Bronze Age travellers may have visited St Kilda 4,000 to 5,000 years ago from the Western Isles before people settled at an unknown date.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Hirta stay ping.
What an interesting place for a visit.
I'd make that in July.
What an interesting place for a visit.
I’d make that in July.
Even in July you will need warm waterproof clothing.
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No kidding. I spent a summer in Scotland years ago, and though surely I'd freeze to death.
http://www.kilda.org.uk/
The place was evacuated in 1930 at the request of the few remaining St. Kildan's as young people left and their subsistence way of life was breaking down.
One interesting piece of trivia concerns the case of Lady Grange. After bearing nine children she became enraged at an affair by her husband. She threatened to expose him as a treasonous Jacobite. He had her kidnapped and held in captivity the rest of her life in the Western Isles. She spent a miserable year in a hovel on St. Kilda.
Thanks colorado tanker.
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