#scotland

#scotland

This Bridge Spans the Atlantic OceanIt seems like quite an engineering feat for 1793. Back then, Britain was starting to launch its world-spanning empire, so it was appropriate that a great nation would attempt to build a bridge across an entire ocean.That’s what the Clachan Bridge does. On one side is mainland Scotland and on the other the island of Seril. Between them flows a narrow channel of the Atlantic Ocean. So, technically speaking, it crosses an ocean.Atlas Obscura shares an amusing story about an inn on the mainland side of the bridge. The Tig an Truish (The House of the Trousers) got its name after the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. The English suppressed Scottish culture after that failed uprising and forbad Scotsmen from wearing kilts. So islanders would change into trousers at the inn on their way to work and then back into kilts on their way back home on the island.#bridges #Scotland #AtlanticOceanPhoto: W.L. Tarbert

Dearc sgiathanach the Jurassic Pterosaur: World's Largest Pterodactyl Fossil Found in ScotlandWhat began as an ordinary excavation trip for Amelia Penny, ended up becoming a historic Jurassic Park moment. The University of Edinburgh’s PhD student unearthed a pterosaur fossil during a trip to the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The discovery is said to be the best-preserved skeleton of a pterosaur found in Scotland, experts say.The gigantic flying predator lived around 170 million years ago. Popularly known as a pterodactyl, the species had an estimated wingspan of over 2.5 metres. The species has been given the Gaelic name Dearc sgiathanach (pronounced jark ski-an-ach), which translates as ‘winged reptile’ and also references the Isle of Skye, whose Gaelic name means ‘the winged isle.’The pterodactyl will now be part of National Museum Scotland’s collection for further study.Image: Stewart Attwood/The University of Edinburgh#fossil #dinosaur #pterosaur #pterodactyl #Scotland #IsleofSkye

5,500-Year-Old Polished Stone Balls found in Neolithic Scottish Tomb may be both Weapons and Symbols of PowerA team of archaeologists found two polished, 5,500-year-old stone balls in one of Scotland’s oldest known monuments. The items were found in Tresness, a chambered cairn on the Orkney island of Sanday that dates to around 3500 B.C.E.The discovery was a ‘cracking find from the tomb,’ according to senior curator of prehistory at the National Museum of ScotlandHugo Anderson-Whymark. Only a few Neolithic stone balls were found in Orkney, and the new finds can now be added to the limited roster of this type of artifact. Researchers believe that the stones were probably used as a weapon and as a symbol of power. This assumption was made from the remains of different people found in Orkney that showed signs of blunt force skull injuries possibly caused by such tools.Image credit: Mike Lawlor#StoneBalls #Artifacts #PolishedStoneBalls #NeolithicPeriod #Tresness #Scotland #Archaeology #Orkney #AncientTools