Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A new paper published in the journal Quaternary Science looks at evidence for a sustained Late Upper Palaeolithic presence on the Isle of Skye in the northwest of Scotland. For a long time it was thought that the harsh conditions during the Younger Dryas and would have made it impossible for people to survive in Scotland long-term. However, over the past decade evidence has been found that suggests the Ahrensburg culture from northern Europe reached Scotland. This latest paper discusses lithics and circular stone features from the Isle of Skye that may also have belonged to this culture and show that they travelled further north than previously thought.
#ancienthistory #archaeology #palaeolithic
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 Introduction
01:35 The Ice Sheets
03:28 Palaeolithic Scotland
06:13 South Cuidrach
07:58 Circular Stone Structures
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BlueSky: @MegalithHunter.bsky.social
✨ REFERENCES
Hardy, K., Barlow, N.L., Taylor, E., Bradley, S.L., McCarthy, J. and Rush, G., 2025. At the far end of everything: A likely Ahrensburgian presence in the far north of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science.
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
CC BY 4.0 DEED creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Images related to the study, credit: Hardy, K., et al., in the paper referenced above.
CC BY 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Extent off Eurasian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum, credit: Hughes, A. L. C., et al., (2015).
CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Pleistocene to Holocene transition, credit: Platt, D. E., et al., (2019).
Federmesser flint, credit: ThoVaLo
CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Hamburg culture shouldered point, credit: Finn Årup Nielsen
Google Earth
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A new paper published in the journal Quaternary Science looks at evidence for a sustained Late Upper Palaeolithic presence on the Isle of Skye in the northwest of Scotland. For a long time it was thought that the harsh conditions during the Younger Dryas and would have made it impossible for people to survive in Scotland long-term. However, over the past decade evidence has been found that suggests the Ahrensburg culture from northern Europe reached Scotland. This latest paper discusses lithics and circular stone features from the Isle of Skye that may also have belonged to this culture and show that they travelled further north than previously thought.
#ancienthistory #archaeology #palaeolithic
✨ IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 Introduction
01:35 The Ice Sheets
03:28 Palaeolithic Scotland
06:13 South Cuidrach
07:58 Circular Stone Structures
✨ JOIN MY CHANNEL
youtube.com/channel/UC0Hs5t0U6Uf993Tba22YmKA/join
✨ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIALS
BlueSky: @MegalithHunter.bsky.social
✨ REFERENCES
Hardy, K., Barlow, N.L., Taylor, E., Bradley, S.L., McCarthy, J. and Rush, G., 2025. At the far end of everything: A likely Ahrensburgian presence in the far north of the Isle of Skye, Scotland. Journal of Quaternary Science.
✨ PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS
CC BY 4.0 DEED creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Images related to the study, credit: Hardy, K., et al., in the paper referenced above.
CC BY 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Extent off Eurasian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum, credit: Hughes, A. L. C., et al., (2015).
CC BY-SA 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Pleistocene to Holocene transition, credit: Platt, D. E., et al., (2019).
Federmesser flint, credit: ThoVaLo
CC BY-SA 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Hamburg culture shouldered point, credit: Finn Årup Nielsen
Google Earth
Location pins
