Archaeologists discover massive Bronze Age settlement while taking a walk on the beach

When four archaeologists set out on a walk on the beach in crumby weather Monday, they expected only to reach a known archaeological site. Instead, they discovered an entirely new one along the way.

Underneath the dunes of Orkney, archaeologists Jane Downes, Christopher Gee, Colin Richards, and Vicki Cummings discovered what they say may be "one of the biggest complexes of Bronze Age settlement in the Scottish isles." The remains, which include 14 houses and various stone tools, are estimated to be up to 4,000 years old.

Archaeologists think the houses were buried under the sand in the second millennium BC, but have recently been exposed by weather patterns and the sea. "The archaeological landscape concealed beneath Sanday's shifting sands never ceases to amaze us," Cath Parker, leader of the Sanday Archaeology Group, said.

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