Charting Ancient Cultures on Scotland’s West Coast
Susan Bain is the National Trust for Scotland’s manager for the Western Isles and she told the
Evening Express that the new results were “very encouraging.” Bain pointed out that this discovery is contemporary with the remains of a
souterrain, or underground grain store, that was discovered on the island in the 19th century. These few clues tell us that people were well established on St. Kilda as part of the wider settlement of the Western Isles, says Bain.
Hunter Blair also told the
Daily Mail that “one of the most significant problems facing archaeologists working on St. Kilda is that earlier buildings were dismantled and cleared away in order to build new ones using the old stone as a building resource.” Stone was also cleared, “including that in burial mounds” to have more extensive cultivation areas, making excavations and the discovery of evidence of the past very complicated.
Hirta the largest island in the remote Scottish archipelago of St Kilda was inhabited 2,000 years ago, evidence from pottery sherds has revealed.
Experts from Guard Archaeology conducted excavations on Hirta from 2017–2019, ahead of the refurbishment of the Ministry of Defence tracking station in Village Bay.
Radiocarbon dating of food remains found on the pottery fragments indicated there has once been intensive inhabitation at Village Bay between the 4th–1st Century BC.
The team also uncovered a pottery fragment which they suspect could possibly date back to the Bronze Age teasing the potential for even earlier occupation on Hirta.
Hirta the largest island in the remote Scottish archipelago of St Kilda was inhabited 2,000 years ago, evidence from pottery shards has revealed. Pictured, excavations in Village Bay
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