Prehistoric Shetland

[2] A midden site at West Voe on the south coast of Mainland, dated to 4320-4030 BC, has provided the first evidence of Mesolithic human activity in Shetland.

This site includes a cluster of six or seven walled fields and three stone circular houses that contains the earliest hoe-blades found so far in Scotland.

[9][10] Pottery shards found at the important site of Jarlshof indicate that there was Neolithic activity there although the main settlement dates from the Bronze Age.

[13] In addition to Mousa there are significant broch ruins at Clickimin, Culswick, Old Scatness and West Burrafirth, although their origin and purpose is a matter of some controversy.

[15][16] In AD 43 and 77 the Roman authors Pomponius Mela and Pliny the Elder referred to the seven islands they call Haemodae and Acmodae respectively, both of which are assumed to be Shetland.

However, another early written reference to the Shetland islands may have been when Tacitus reported that the Roman fleet had seen "Thule" on a voyage that included Orkney in AD 98.

[24][25][26] Shetland was colonised by Norsemen in the late 8th and 9th centuries;[27] the fate of the previous indigenous population is uncertain.

According to the Orkneyinga Saga, Vikings then used the islands as a base for pirate expeditions against Norway and the coasts of mainland Scotland.