The DNA evidence connecting the Loch Borralie individuals to populations in the Orkney Islands is one of the most geographically striking aspects of the discovery.

The Orkney Islands lie across the Pentland Firth, about ten miles from the northern tip of mainland Scotland at its closest point, and they have an extraordinary prehistoric archaeological record that has made them one of the most intensively studied areas of prehistoric Europe.

Orkney’s Neolithic monuments — the Ring of Brodgar, the Stones of Stenness, Skara Brae, Maes Howe — are among the most significant prehistoric sites in Europe, and the island’s dense concentration of prehistoric remains across multiple periods reflects the long-term continuity of human habitation in this relatively fertile and accessible archipelago.

By the Iron Age, Orkney was also a center of broch construction, with several of the best-preserved brochs in Scotland located on the islands.