Humans may have lived on remote Scots island

As inhospitable islands go, Boreray must be up there in the top 10.

It is part of the uninhabited St Kilda archipelago – in itself a pretty hostile place – lying far out in the Atlantic Ocean and 40 miles west of the Western Isles. Boreray was previously thought to be home only to seabirds and feral sheep – but now archaeologists have found evidence of one-time permanent settlement which could date back to prehistoric times.

It was previously thought that inhabitants of St Kilda’s largest island Hirta visited neighbouring Boreray only in the summer, to hunt birds and gather wool. This practice ended in the early part of the 20th century, and in 1930 the last remaining inhabitants of St Kilda were evacuated from the islands at their own request.

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