STAFFIN, SKYE—A fragment of burned and worked bone and several hundred flints were discovered near Staffin Bay by a team of archaeologists and volunteers from the University of Highlands and Islands, the Staffin Community Trust, and local primary schools. The piece of 8,000-year-old bone, which appears to have been shaped at one end and perhaps drilled on the other, may have been used as a toggle to fasten clothing or bead in a necklace. The team also uncovered the remains of a circular building. “Although the structure did not turn out to be prehistoric, it has protected significant evidence for Mesolithic activity below it,” outreach archaeologist Dan Lee of the University of Highlands and Islands said in a Staffin Community Trust press release. “Hopefully we have enough material for radiocarbon dates and further excavation would be useful to better define the extent of the site,” he added. To read about a prehistoric musical instrument found on the Isle of Skye, go to "A Little Scottish Ditty."
