The Ancient History of the Scilly Isles

The Scilly Isles have been inhabited since thesome of the islands that make up the Scilly Isles.
Stone Age, and the people there have alwaysThere are even references to areas that no
lived a lifestyle of subsistence. What this means islonger exist, but are definitely from the isles in the
that the people there lived only on what the landCornish language.
and the sea could provide. Luckily, being in theIt's not just the rising sea levels that have caused
Atlantic Ocean, the sea could provide a lot, andthis though. The entirety of the south of England
the island remained inhabited. It was likelyis slowly sinking, and the difference this would
discovered by the Phoenicians and the Greeks,make could easily be seen in the time span that
who would have seen a completely different setScilly displays.
of Isles to that which exist today.It's also worth noting that when the tide becomes
Before the rise of the seas, Scilly would havelow enough, it's possible to walk between some
likely had one large island surrounded by numerousof the islands on causeways, and that numerous
smaller islands to form an archipelago. Evidencelegends of a sunken land between Cornwall and
for this can be seen from the Romans describingthe Isles of Scilly can be found in the Arthurian
Scilly as an insular, rather than a set of islands,legends, and in Breton, Cornish and Celtic folklore.
and remains of a prehistoric farm on Nornour, aIt's unlikely that the rate of sinking will increase,
small, rocky outcrop in the Scilly Isles which is farbut if it does, these islands could quickly find
too small for farming to have ever taken placethemselves underwater. Some people even
there, unless the sea was much lower and morehypothesise that this transition could take place as
land was exposed. There are also ancient walls,quickly as overnight, though these are definitely in
the sort that would have been used to dividethe minority.
fields, which can be seen at low tides just off