Huge ancient settlement unearthed on top of a hill in Scotland

A huge historic settlement, about the size of 17 football pitches has been found by archaeologists in Scotland.

The site, which sits on top of a hill near Rhynie in Aberdeenshire, is thought to be more than 1,400 years old and and has been described as "mind blowing" by the team which discovered it.

The settlement was thought to have been home to more than 4,000 people, all crammed into around 800 small huts.

The University of Aberdeen's research team used drones to survey the area, which is on the Tap O' Noth hill.

Alongside the smaller huts, they found evidence of one larger hut, suggesting there may have been an important person or family of high rank within the community living there.

Archaeologists had previously thought that settlements of that size did not appear until about the 12th century - almost 600 years later.

"It is truly mind-blowing" said Professor Gordon Noble, who led the team.

"It demonstrates just how much we still have to learn about settlement around the time..."