News
Flint tools discovered in Stronsay
19/09/2007 17:00:00
A FIELD WALKING project in Stronsay, led by Naomi Woodward of Orkney College, has discovered intriguing flint tools which may represent the earliest evidence of human activity currently known in Orkney.
Two tanged flint points were identified within a flint scatter collected during the Stronsay archaeological survey in April 2007 and have been identified by flint experts Caroline Wickham-Jones and Torbin Ballin as early forms of arrowheads.
These flints may represent some of the earliest human activity in the islands and are suggested to run parallel to similar finds from across Scotland. Such forms of flint have been attributed to the late Palaeolithic or early Mesolithic period of around 10,000 years ago and are thought to have been used as hunting implements by the mobile, hunter-gatherer populations that may have existed during this period.
Dr Jane Downes of Orkney College is very excited as these finds are suggested to be over 5000 years earlier than any of the archaeology known presently in Orkney and has said they will be part of an exciting research project at Orkney College UHI.