Tools dating back 11,000 years found on Skye

Archaeologists have discovered ancient tools which they believe show evidence of one of the earliest human populations yet known in Scotland.

The stone tool heads are believed to be between 11,000 and 11,500 years old and date from a period known as the Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP).

The discovery was made an at undisclosed location on the island of Skye.

Experts say the find means that the west coast now represents the largest concentration of evidence for human populations anywhere in Scotland.

Karen Hardy, Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Glasgow, led a team of archaeologists and scientists which has published its findings in The Journal of Quaternary Science.

She said: "This is a hugely significant discovery which offers a new perspective on the earliest human occupation yet known of north-west Scotland."

During the LUP period when they tools are believed to have been made, much of western Scotland was buried under ice.

Prof Hardy said groups of nomadic hunter-gatherers, most likely of the Ahrensburgian culture from northern Europe, would have crossed the Doggerland area now covered by the North Sea and established themselves on Skye.

"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," she said.

"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."

Once they reached Skye, the early settlers crafted tools from stone found locally.

Scientists believe they deliberately chose to base themselves close to coastal and river resources as well as natural materials like ochre, which was highly valued by ancient cultures.