The town was allegedly founded around 966 AD as Skarðaborg by Thorgils Skarthi, a Viking raider, though there is
no archaeological evidence to support these claims made during the 1960s, as
part of a pageant of Scarborough events. The origin of this belief is a
fragment of an Icelandic Saga. In the 4th century there had briefly been a
Roman signal station on Scarborough headland and there is evidence of much
earlier Stone Age and Bronze Age settlements. However, any new settlement was
soon burned to the ground by a rival band of Vikings under Tosti (Tostig
