Читать книгу The Isle of Mull. Mull, Ulva, Gometra, Iona and Erraid онлайн

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Standing stones, Glen Gorm (Walk 1.4)

It is generally believed that Mull was first inhabited about 8000–10,000 years ago, following the last Ice Age. Hunter-gatherers lived in caves, such as the so-called Livingston’s Cave on Ulva, and roamed freely across the island group. Then came the great transition, when the nomadic people started to settle down and become farmers, as they did throughout Britain and much of Europe, anything up to 6000 years ago. These Neolithic people, and the Bronze Age people that followed them, were responsible for many of the burial cairns that still dot the islands. Their presence is attested by a wealth of such cairns, cists, standing stones, stone circles, beaker pottery and knife blades. The Iron Age people who lived on Mull from around 2500–1500 years ago built forts, brochs, duns and crannogs, and a great many defensive settlements across the islands.

Christianity is believed to have come to the islands in the sixth century, when Columba landed from Ireland on the southernmost point of Iona, and set up a monastery on the island. But within a century, the island of Iona was sacked by Vikings, who continued to raid the islands of Mull for several centuries before becoming settlers.