Stone flints found in a field north of Biggar are from the Upper Paleolithic age, or Old Stone Age, 14,000 years ago, said Alan Saville, an archaeologist and senior curator at the National Museum of Scotland.
The field where the flints were found may have been a camp used by hunters following migrating herds of reindeer, elk or wild horses across land now covered by the North Sea, The Times of London reported Friday.
Until the find near Biggar, archeologists said the earliest evidence of human habitation in Scotland was at Cramond, near Edinburgh, where artifacts had been radiocarbon-dated to about 8,400 B.C.
The artifacts from the Biggar site include piercing flints used for hunting and scraping flints used on hides, said Tam Ward, an archeologist at the site.
"It is impossible to go further back in time in Scotland for evidence of human occupation, making this a hugely significant find," Ward told The Times.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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