16 Sep 2005

Archaeologists find trail of Scottish navigator who inspired Robinson Crusoe

9:15 am on 16 September 2005

A group of adventurers and archaeologists has found a habitation site of the Scottish navigator Alexander Selkirk, on an isolated island in the South Pacific Ocean.

The group says the island is some 670 kilometres off Chile.

Selkirk was left on the uninhabited island in 1704 after being involved in a conflict on his vessel and survived for four years until he was rescued by a British ship.

The group says radioactive carbon dating of a fireplace of a stone-built residence on the island shows it dates from around the time when Mr Selkirk was there.

He is believed to have been the model for the adventure fiction hero Robinson Crusoe.