Scotland's most ancient home found – at 14,000 years old

Amateur archaeologists out on a dig have come across evidence of Scotland's oldest human settlement, dating back 14,000 years.

The team unearthed tools that date from the end of the last Ice Age.

This discovery is extremely important as it is the first time there has been proof that humans lived in Scotland during the upper paleolithic period.



During this period of Scottish history nomadic humans hunted giant elk and reindeer using bows and arrows, and when mammoth and rhino also roamed the land. The archaeologists found arrowheads belonging to about 12,000 BC.

At that time, the North Sea was an expanse of land, around which the nomadic humans roamed. Similar tools have been found in Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, but never before in Scotland.

Previously, the earliest evidence of human habitation in Scotland was thought to be at Cramond near Edinburgh, which had been radiocarbon dated to around 8,400 BC.

Next month, the archaeologists will return to the spot at Howburn Farm, near Elsrickle, to carry out a larger excavation and see what else they can find.

Tam Ward, project leader from Biggar Museums, said he was "gobsmacked" when he found out how old the tools were.