News / Iron Age sites on World Heritage shortlist
THE IRON age sites in Shetland’s south mainland have been shortlisted for World Heritage status.
The broch on Mousa, the Old Scatness settlement and Jarlshof have been chosen to join 10 other UK sites bidding to join UNESCO’s exclusive list of the most important places to visit in the world.
“The Crucible of Iron Age Shetland” application was one of just three sites to be picked from Scotland, the others being the Flow Country in Caithness and Sutherland and the Forth Bridge in Edinburgh.
A total of 38 bids came in from across Britain, with six coming from Scotland.
UNESCO only provide a three month window every 10 years for applications to be submitted, and Shetland Amenity Trust took advantage when the opportunity was presented last year.
Now they have 10 years to put together a detailed submission with help from other public agencies like Historic Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, bird charity RSPB and Shetland Islands Council.
Regional archaeologist Val Turner said it would take about two years to put together a proper application for World Heritage status and it was “by no means a foregone conclusion” that they would be successful.
“The UK can only put forward one site a year and before anything can be put forward there’s quite a lot of work that has to be done. A lot of agencies will have to come together to put this big application in,” she said.
The Shetland bid will not just look at the archaeological sites, but also the natural landscape in which they are sited, bringing in the storm petrels on Mousa, the bird reserve at Sumburgh Head and the Pool of Virkie site of special scientific interest.
“What now lies ahead is a lot of hard work and an exciting challenge, but for Shetland it means the potential to draw in a lot more visitors, a lot more research and a lot more money.
“This will put Shetland archaeology on the world stage where it belongs.”
Scotland already has five World Heritage sites: Neolothic Orkney, Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns, New Lanark, the island of St Kilda, and the Antonine Wall.
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