4000BC - Nua-linn na Cloiche – Neolithic (6000 – 3800 years ago)
People arrived, possibly from the north, with the idea of settling in one place and cultivating plants and domesticating animals. These New Stone Age people buried their dead in communal cairns and built stone circles. The standing stones at Calanais are really in Uig, which once stretched as far north as Carloway. The size in Uig, which once stretched as far north as Carloway. The size and complexity of the ritual sites, suggests a large and thriving community, relying on a reasonably fertile soil and a warmer, drier climate than today.
Photo © Keith Stringer