Some of Scotland’s most important archaeological sites are being lost to coastal erosion, according to an academic.
On the Orkney Isles, almost a third of all known historic sites are either being damaged by or are under risk from the sea.
The damage is replicated elsewhere in Scotland and Julie Gibson from the University of the Highlands and Islands’ archaeology department will explore the issue during a talk at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow later this week.
Ms Gibson, who is also Orkney’s community archaeologist, said: “Scotland has the longest coastline in Europe and, as a maritime nation, much of our heritage relates to the sea.
“Around Orkney, more than a thousand archaeological sites are threatened or are being actively damaged.
“The 5,000-year-old Stone Age village of Skara Brae is dependent upon a sea wall that requires constant maintenance, the medieval site of Langskaill in Westray retreated five metres in one go a few years back and a Pictish site on Lamb Holm went from being a visible building to nothing but a line of rubble.”
Ms Gibson’s talk will take place at the City Halls in Glasgow on Thursday at 12.30pm.
