Washington, Oct 6 : Ancient Scots braved the elements to establish community as early as 13000 years ago, during the last Ice Age, a new study in the current issue of British Archaeology has revealed.

The study suggests that the earliest Scots shared a common ancestor with the first Norwegians, meaning that some people of Scottish descent could be distantly related to modern Norwegians.

“So often we hear that conditions in Scotland during the late Paleolithic and early Mesolithic would have prohibited human settlements because the landscape was cold and icy, but now we have to wonder what was actually going on and why people appear to have been living in the area during what is thought to have been a glacial period,” said project leader Naomi Woodward.

Woodward, an archaeologist at Orkney College, and her team excavated two broken flint points, which either served as arrowheads or spear tips, during a field study, on the island of Stronsay, Orkney, in the north of Scotland.

Woodward said the points matched others found at early Scottish sites, as also with those discovered in what is now northern Germany, dating to even earlier time periods.

She said the points discovered at Stronsay dated to around 13,000 years ago, and likely predated an 8,500 BC Edinburgh hunting campsite, previously thought to have been Scotland's oldest settlement.

Mike Pitts, the editor of British Archaeology, said the points represented high technology for prehistoric hunters.

“They're called tanged points because they have a tang, or notch, that would have gone into a slot on a stick. Fine thread bound them to the stick, and the connection would have been secured with resin, serving as glue,” Pitts said.

He said the northern European plains location suggested that Scotland's first settlers were reindeer hunters from the Ahrensburgian culture.

Reindeer exist in Scotland, but the scientists suspect the hunters also went after more prevalent deer and other large herbivores. If attached to spears, the points could have also been used to stab fish and marine life, as well.

Caroline Wickham-Jones, an honorary research fellow in the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, told Discovery News that the points added to “a package” of flint weaponry findings from other early sites, such as Tiree and Wester Ross on Scotland's west coast.

She said Scotland appeared to have, at least in some areas, “developed its own unique identity,” based on the early Ahrenburgian inhabitants, which seem to have first settled at Stronsay.

“It is probable then that some Scottish individuals share common ancestors with the Norwegians. The discovery suggests early settlers did not just come up to Scotland from England, bringing their culture with them. Sea level was much lower at the time, and other researchers have found entirely submerged forests and valleys around Scotland,” Wickham-Jones said.

“The Ahrenburgians possibly hunted mammals and tapped marine resources, island hopping and moving by boat around the region. A more northerly trip likely took them to Norway, where they established possibly yet another settlement,” she added.

Woodward said the findings could possibly also explain the island's attraction and the origin of the name Stronsay, which means “Star Island” in Old Norse.

“The island juts out in points so, to the early boaters, it would have looked like an actual star,” Woodward said. (ANI)