A guide to Shetland's archaeology

With a multitude of scheduled sites and monuments, you may be at a loss as to which archaeological treasures to visit when you’re only in Shetland for a limited time. This podcast will outline the top archaeological attractions and take you on a voyage of discovery through 6,000 years of human history.

In the show, we begin in Shetland’s Mesolithic Period where hunter-gatherer people first arrived here, in search of food. From the Mesolithic, we journey through the Neolithic and see the first farmers settle in Shetland, beginning a long period of occupation. After the Neolithic comes the Bronze Age, a brief period that precedes a long and, often difficult, Iron Age. We look at how the Vikings and Norse settlers brought a wave of change to the islands and, finally, explore Shetland’s transition into Scotland, and what that has meant for us culturally, today.