One of the stone circles discovered in Scotland

A Preston lecturer is part of a team who discovered a rare Bronze Age settlement in a remote area of Scotland.

Dr Vicki Cummings was working in the Orkney Islands with other academics from the University of Manchester and the University of the Highlands and Islands when they made the find.

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The team found a series of circular stone spreads each covered with a mass of stone tools.

A total of 14 gatherings from the Bronze Age were found along a kilometre stretch at Tres Ness on the island of Sanday.

Dr Vicki Cummings

Dr Cummings, a lecturer at UCLan’s school of forensic and applied sciences, said: “We were walking out to visit a chambered tomb in extremely windy conditions along a sandy beach when we noticed spreads of dark stone amongst the white sand.

“These spreads were so prolific we didn’t at first realise that what we were walking on were the remains of substantial stone-built prehistoric houses.

“Looking carefully at the remains we found a mass of stone tools which were clearly Bronze Age in date. What really stunned me was that these remains were stretched out over a kilometre making this the largest prehistoric settlement I’ve ever seen.

“This is truly a remarkable find but its exposure means that this incredible site is now under threat from rising sea levels and wintery storms.”

The team says it is one of the biggest complexes of Bronze Age settlement in the Scottish isles.