Before farming was introduced into Scotland, people Jived by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild foodstuffs. This way of life meant that they usually didn't settle permanently in one place, but were to an extent nomadic, moving about in search of a livelihood, perhaps returning to the same places at certain times of the year. It is believed that the islands of Orkney were known to these people, but, so far, only a few tools have been found to verify this. This is because coastal erosion has destroyed many ancient sites and these may have contained relics of some of these earliest pioneering colonists.