5,500-Year-Old Artificial Island in Scotland Found to Have a Wooden Base

Aerial presumption of the islets successful Loch Bhorgastail. Credit: Duncan Garrow / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Archaeologists person recovered that an past artificial island successful Scotland’s Loch Bhorgastail, agelong thought to beryllium made of stone, was built connected a ample timber level much than 5,000 years ago.

The tract is connected the Isle of Lewis. Researchers from the University of Southampton began excavating successful 2021 and uncovered a timber operation forming the afloat basal of what appears from the aboveground to beryllium a chromatic mound.

Dr. Stephanie Blankshein, a University of Southampton archaeologist, said that the standard of the find was unexpected. Scattered pieces of wood were disposable poking retired beneath the land earlier excavations began, but the afloat grade of the timber operation underneath came arsenic a astonishment to researchers.

Radiocarbon dating placed operation betwixt 3,500 and 3,300 BC, predating Stonehenge. At its earliest stage, builders laid down a wide woody basal spanning astir 23 meters and covered it with brushwood.

Timber instauration traced backmost much than 5,000 years

The land went done respective phases of improvement aft that. Sometime successful the Middle Bronze Age, astir 2,000 years into its history, further brushwood and chromatic were piled connected top.

Activity astatine the tract continued again successful the Iron Age. At immoderate point, a chromatic pathway was built connecting the land to the loch shore, though it present sits underwater.

Hundreds of pieces of Neolithic pottery were recovered from the surrounding h2o during excavation.

Archaeologists person discovered that a 5,500-year-old artificial land successful Scotland was built connected a monolithic timber platform, reshaping what we cognize astir Neolithic communities. pic.twitter.com/wHECXExSa1

— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) May 4, 2026

Matching operation dates person travel from adjacent sites crossed the Outer Hebrides, indicating the signifier was not constricted to this determination but shared crossed the wider region.

Crannogs are a benignant of man-made land built successful bodies of h2o crossed Scotland. Hundreds person been recorded successful the country’s lochs, though what drove communities to physique them remains unclear.

Blankshein said that the labour and resources required to conception them constituent to organized communities and suggest these sites held heavy value for the radical who made them.

Scotland’s past artificial land portion of a wider determination tradition

The land was archetypal identified successful 2009. Fieldwork since 2021 has drawn connected excavation, radiocarbon dating, surveying, and halfway sampling to hint its development.

Researchers besides utilized photogrammetry to physique 3D models of the site, moving with experts astatine the University of Reading. The process involves taking photographs from assorted angles and processing them into a unified integer model.

Shallow h2o presented a problem. Below 1 metre (3.28 feet), murky conditions, debased light, and aboveground disturbances marque accordant imaging difficult.

To enactment astir this, the squad developed a customized rig holding 2 wide-angle waterproof cameras astatine a fixed, measured spread betwixt them. A diver moved the rig done the h2o portion its presumption was tracked with centimeter-level precision, producing results connected par with drone-based imaging.

Prof. Fraser Sturt, manager of the Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute, said that shallow h2o has agelong frustrated underwater archaeologists, and the caller attack helps code that directly. The findings are published successful the diary Advances successful Archaeological Practice.