As a Geology student, this is an awesome article! I am always reading articles about Earth Sciences (go figure :mrgreen.

As for Scotland being no more ancient the remainder of the world . . true. However, the United Kingdom (more specifically, Northwestern Scotland, Hebrides and Northern Ireland) does have some of the oldest "rocks" in the World. These rocks have been dated to be 2.7 billion years old and the Earth being 4.6 billion years old. Some other notable places of the "oldest rocks" are: the Canadian Shield (which is the Earth's greatest area of exposed Archaean rock.), Australia and Africa.

And, here is an excerpt from a scientific find, just very recently. Here is a link on it: click here or click here
"On September 25, 2008, researchers announced that a rock formation, the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt, exposed on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, has the oldest known rocks on Earth, with an estimated age of 4.28 billion years."

"The oldest known rock formations (the Isua greenstone belt) comprise sediments from Greenland dated around 3.8 billion years ago somewhat altered by a volcanic dike that penetrated the rocks after they were deposited. Individual zircon crystals redeposited in sediments in Western Canada and the Jack Hills region of Western Australia are much older. The oldest dated zircons date from about 4.4 billion years ago - very close to the hypothesized time of the Earth's formation."

To break it down by "age", per se. The normal human being relates to "recent" events by years and decades, where as Earth Scientists (Geologists) relate to "recent" events by eons and epochs on a geological timescale :mrgreen:. There are 4 eons: Hadean (3.8 - 4.6 billion years ago . . the hypothesized time of the Earth's formation is 4.6 billion years ago), Archean (2.5 - 3.8 billion years ago), Proterozoic (542 million - 2.5 billion years ago), and Phanerozoic (the present time to 542 million years ago).

I know, some of you are sitting there, scratching your heads, wondering "what in the world does this have to do with fossils". Well, I love talking about geology and paleontology . . its my nature :mrgreen:. Besides, its "gneiss" to talk about Earth Science (its pronounced "nice", hehehe) . . and, relate the different regions of the World, by age.