Prehistoric Scotland

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Archaeology and geology continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex past before the Romans brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history. Successive human cultures tended to be spread across Europe or further afield, but focusing on this particular geographical area sheds light on the origin of the widespread remains and monuments in Scotland, and on the background to the history of Scotland.

The extent of open countryside untouched by intensive farming, together with past availability of stone rather than timber, has given Scotland a wealth of accessible sites where the ancient past can be seen.

The remote prehistory of Scotland

Scotland is geologically alien to Europe, comprising a sliver of the ancient continent of

subduction zone at the western plate margin led to a renewed period of volcanism, this time on Scotland's west coast, producing fresh mountains on Skye, Jura, Mull, Rùm, and Arran
.

This tectonic activity produced the basis of Scotland's topography: ancient mountains in the North and South of the country, partially eroded by 400 million years of water and ice with a wide fertile valley between them, and a newer, wilder western terrain. With Scotland now in the northern temperate zone, it was subjected to numerous glaciations in the

corries and dramatic pyramidal peaks. In lowland areas the ice deposited rich fields of fertile glacial till and eroded the softer material surrounding the extinct volcanoes (particularly the older Carboniferous ones), leaving many crags
.

Before modern humans

During the last

Mesolithic period
.

Glaciers then scoured their way across most of Britain, and it was only after the ice retreated about 15,000 years ago that Scotland again became habitable.

Hunter-gatherers

The Mesolithic

As the climate improved,

hunter-gatherers extended their range into Scotland. The earliest evidence to date is the flint artefacts found at Howburn Farm, near Elsrickle in 2005. This is the first and so far the only evidence of Upper Paleolithic human habitation in Scotland, around 12,000 BC, which appears to fall between the Younger Dryas and Lomond Stadial periods when cold conditions returned relatively briefly.[1][2][3]

An early settlement at Cramond, near what is today Edinburgh, has been dated to around 8500 BC. Pits and stakeholes suggest a hunter-gatherer encampment, and microlith stone tools made at the site predate finds of similar style in England. Although no bones or shells had survived in the acidic soils, numerous carbonised hazelnut shells indicate cooking in a similar way to finds at other Mesolithic period sites, including the slightly earlier Star Carr and the Howick house in Northumberland, dated to 7600 BC ("Britain's oldest house"), where post holes indicate a very substantial construction, interpreted as a permanent residence for hunting people. This suggests that hunter-gatherers could also have settled down in Scotland.

Other sites on the east coast and at lochs and rivers, and large numbers of rock shelters and shell middens around the west coast and islands, build up a picture of highly mobile people, often using sites seasonally and having boats for fishing and for transporting stone tools from sites where suitable materials were found. Finds of flint tools on Ben Lawers and at Glen Dee (a mountain pass through the Cairngorms) show that these people were capable of travelling well inland across the hills.

At a rock shelter and shell midden at Sand, Applecross in Wester Ross facing Skye, excavations have shown that around 7500 BC people had tools of bone, stone and antlers, were living off shellfish, fish, and deer using "pot boiler" stones as a cooking method, were making beads from seashells, and had ochre pigment and used shellfish which can produce purple dye.

Farmers and monument builders

Maeshowe Neolithic tomb, Orkney, built c. 2800 BC

Western Isles, where a lack of trees led to most structures being built of local stone.[5]

Standing Stones of Stenness, Orkney, c. 3100 BCE

The remainder of this section focuses mainly on the

Orkney Islands, where there is a Neolithic landscape rich in sites amazingly preserved by prevalent use of the local stone which appears on the shore ready-split into convenient building slabs. There are many other examples across the country, many under the care of Historic Scotland
.

At the stone house at

Eilean Domhnuill
.

The houses at

grooved ware style which is found across Britain as far away as Wessex
.

About 6 miles (10 km) from Skara Brae,

Standing Stones of Stenness (originally a circle) which lie centrally in a close group of three major monuments. Maeshowe, the finest example of the passage grave type of chambered cairn (radiocarbon dated to before 2700 BC) lies just to the east. The Ring of Brodgar circle of standing stones is across a bridge immediately to the north. This circle was one of the first to be analysed by Professor Alexander Thom to establish the likely use of standing stones as astronomical observatories. Another Neolithic village has been found nearby at Barnhouse Settlement
, and the inference is that these farming people were the builders and users of these mysterious structures.

Like the standing stones at

Megalithic culture which also produced Stonehenge in Wiltshire and the stone rows at Carnac in Brittany
.

Further evidence can be found in Kilmartin Glen with its Stone Circles, Standing Stones and Rock Art

The widespread connections of these people are shown by offerings imported from Cumbria and Wales and left on the sacred hilltop at Cairnpapple Hill, West Lothian, as early as 3500 BC.

  • Ring of Brodgar, Orkney
  • Jade axehead, imported from the Italian Alps
    Jade axehead, imported from the
    Italian Alps
  • The 'Westray Wife'
    The 'Westray Wife'
  • Cup and ring marks
    Cup and ring marks
  • The Towie carved stone ball
    The Towie carved stone ball
  • Carved stone balls
    Carved stone balls
  • Stone mace and axes
    Stone mace and axes

Bronze Age

The cairns and

megalithic monuments continued into the Bronze Age, though there was a decline in both the building of large new structures and the total area under cultivation.[6]

The Clava cairns and standing stones near Inverness show complex geometries and astronomical alignments, with smaller, perhaps individual, tombs instead of the communal Neolithic tombs.[7]

Mummies dating from 1600 to 1300 BC have been discovered at Cladh Hallan on South Uist.

Hill forts were introduced, such as Eildon Hill near Melrose in the Scottish Borders, which goes back to around 1000 BC and which accommodated several hundred houses on a fortified hilltop. Excavation at Edinburgh Castle found late Bronze Age
material from about 850 BC.

During the first millennium BC, the society changed dramatically to a chiefdom model, as consolidation of settlement led to the concentration of wealth and underground stores of surplus food.[8]: 11 

Iron Age

Traprain Law, East Lothian

From around 700 BC and extending into Roman times, the Iron Age was an age of forts and defended farmsteads, which support the image of quarrelsome tribes and petty kingdoms recorded by the Romans. Evidence that at times occupants neglected the defences might suggest that symbolic power was as significant as warfare.[11]

Broch of Mousa, c. 300 BC[12]

Celtic
culture and language spread into southern Scotland at some time after the 8th century BC, possibly through cultural contact rather than mass invasion, and systems of kingdoms developed.

Larger fortified settlements expanded, such as the

Shetland. Many Souterrain underground passageways were constructed, though their purpose is obscure. Island settlements linked with land by a causeway, the crannogs
, became common; it is thought that their function was defensive.

See also

References

  1. ^ Haworth, Jenny (10 April 2009) "Scotland's most ancient home found – at 14,000 years old" The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  2. ^ "Earliest site in Scotland discovered" Archived 2010-10-10 at the Wayback Machine. biggararchaeology.org.uk. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  3. ^ "South end of Loch Lomond (Geomorphology)" Archived 2006-06-16 at archive.today. Scottish Geology. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  4. S2CID 163495241. Archived from the original
    on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  5. .
  6. ^ Moffat, Alistair (2005) Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History. London. Thames & Hudson. Page 154.
  7. ^ Kruse, S. 2021. Case Study: Clava Type Cairns. Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF), accessed April 2022
  8. .
  9. ^ "Gold lunula". National Museums Scotland.
  10. ^ "Spacer-Plate Necklace". Bute Museum.
  11. ^ Kruse, S. et al 2021. Iron Age. Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF), accessed April 2022.
  12. ^ "Mousa Broch". Historic Environment Scotland.
  13. ^ "The Torrs pony cap". National Museums Scotland.
  14. ^ "Deskford carnyx". National Museums Scotland.
  15. ^ "Middlebie Hoard". National Museums Scotland.
  16. ^ "Newbridge Chariot reconstruction". National Museums Scotland.

Further reading

External links