The oldest artificial islands found in Scotland

At this point in Scotland and Ireland you canto find more than 1500 so-called crannogues - small artificial islands of the XVII – XVIII centuries, which were built on rivers and lakes. The oldest existing crannogue is still considered to have been built between 3650 and 2500 BC Ilen Donnell, but it turned out that there are older islands in the world. They are located in the bays of Lough Vorgastel and Lough Langawat, and they were discovered thanks to ceramic pots.

As a rule, artificial islands were created onshallow water and were wooden platforms or ridges, built of logs, earth and stones. On these buildings, the ancient inhabitants of Scotland and Ireland built houses that could only be reached through stone or wooden bridges stretched from the shore. Researchers believe that the artificial islands were intended to protect against robbers.

The search for artificial islands

The first signs of the existence of artificialThe islands older than Ilene Donnell were discovered in 2012 by former submariner of the Royal Navy Chris Murray. During one of the dives near the small uninhabited archipelago, he found ceramic pots from the early or middle Neolithic times - the inhabitants of those times actively built crannogs.

One of the ceramic pots found by Chris Murray

Realizing that nearby may be located earlierUnknown islands, Chris re-dives with the local history museum museum Mark Elliott and found another ceramic dish that was also well preserved. Subsequently, in 2017, archaeologists from the University of Reading, who armed themselves with sonar and other professional equipment, decided to help them.

Found the most ancient crannogi in the world

As a result, they managed to open a new artificialan island in Lough Vorgastel Bay - its dimensions were 22 by 26 meters. The second find was made in Lough Langawat Bay - an island measuring 19 meters by 17 meters was built on a cliff protruding from the water. For construction, stones weighing up to 250 kilograms and logs were used, but the latter have not survived to our times. Near the buildings, archaeologists found clay pots, which hinted that the islands were built before Stonehenge, in 3640 BC.

Krannog Loch Vorgastel aerial view

Ancient structures are found in quitedifferent points of our planet. For example, recently archaeologists managed to dig up one of the most ancient Egyptian fortresses, which was subjected to a destructive siege. You can read about it in our material.

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