The breakdown of the traditional rigid distinction between ‘hunter-gatherers’ and ‘farmers’ has lead to increased interest into the different types of human-plant relationships that existed in hunter-gatherer and early farming societies during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition. This thesis assesses the scale and nature of human-plant exploitation in Mesolithic and Neolithic Scotland. Following Zvelebil (1994), several plant exploitation models are tested using palaeobotanical evidence: 1) opportunistic and incidental wild plant use; 2) systematic and intensive wild plant use; 3) wild plant food management, husbandry or cultivation; 4) the cultivation of domestic plants. It is concluded that wild plant exploitation was most probably systematic and intensive in Mesolithic Scotland, but there is no clear-cut evidence to substantiate the suggestion that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers managed wild plants. The relative importance of wild and domestic plants in the Neolithic economy is difficult to establish due to differences in the deposition, preservation, recovery and recording of cereals and wild plants. However, the importance of agriculture in the economy appears to have varied considerably between different sites and areas. In the Northern Isles and Outer Hebrides, settled agricultural communities were present and wild plant collection was insignificant. In contrast, a mixed plant subsistence economy based on both wild plant collection and cereal cultivation was probably the predominant subsistence strategy in mainland Scotland, though it appears that some apparently contemporary groups cultivated cereals on a large-scale, and others primarily focused on the collection of wild plants. The absence of cereals in assemblages from the Inner Hebrides and the West coast mainland suggests a greater degree of continuity in Mesolithic and Neolithic subsistence strategies in this area than elsewhere in Scotland. Differences in the importance of arable agriculture in each region may reflect the density of settlement in the Mesolithic and the natural availability of wild resources in the environment.

Plant gatherers, plant managers or agriculturalists? : the importance of wild and domestic plants in Mesolithic and Neolithic Scotland

The use of predictive modelling to target Neolithic settlement and occupation activity in mainland Scotland

Generalised socio-economic models have in the past been applied wholesale to Neolithic monuments throughout Scotland without taking the country's diverse physical landscape and cultural histories into account. This paper explores whether regional variations in Neolithic monumentality can be paralleled with earlier Mesolithic disparities, and considers to what extent, with the introduction of agriculture, contemporary social systems and thus the ideology underlying monumental construction was affected by geographical factors.It is suggested that:• Contrasts during the Mesolithic between the Western seaboard and the Eastern lowlands/South-east Scotland continue throughout the Neolithic.• The different functions of monuments during the Early Neolithic are generally dictated by divergent topography in Eastern and Western Scotland.• By the later Neolithic social hierarchies emerged in regions suited to agricultural development.

The Mesolithic Inheritance: Contrasting Neolithic Monumentality in Eastern and Western Scotland

INTRODUCTION Scottish roundhouse studies have always been at the forefront of work on prehistoric settlement in Britain, from the pioneering excavations of Peggy Piggott in the 1940s, to Dick Feachem’s typology of the 1960s, and the structural analysis of Peter Hill in the 198 0s. This paper will discuss the dated roundhouse assemblage in Bronze Age Scotland and Northumberland in an attempt to update our understanding of the development of circular architecture prior to 800 BC. Using the current assemblage of radiocarbon-dated roundhouses the paper discusses the development of architectural forms In both upland and lowland landscapes. 1 With reference to Feachem’s (1965) typology, the paper considers the key features of northern roundhouse settlement in the Bronze Age: unenclosed platform settlements; ring-banks; the question of stake-rings; post-built structures; ring-grooves; double-ring ring-beam technology; and ring-ditches. The discussion takes the form of a chronological narrative, in which a 1400 BC date is proposed for the E-MBA transition and the nature of the LBA-EIA transition is discussed. The paper concludes with a modern, dated roundhouse typology. Site locations are given in illus 1, where references to the sites discussed below can also be found.

Bronze Age architectural traditions: dates and landscapes

This paper describes the excavation of an unenclosed ring-groove house at Ardgowan Rise, Inverkip, Inverclyde. The remains were identified during an archaeological evaluation carried out prior to development of the site, and comprised a timber-built structure, defined by two sections of ring-groove and postholes, along with interior and exterior features. While material from most of the structural components and from the hearth has been radiocarbon dated to the Mid-Bronze Age, other features indicate use of the site during the Mesolithic and Early Bronze Age. Some evidence for later agricultural use of the site was also uncovered.

Excavation of a Bronze Age Ring-Groove House at Inverkip, Inverclyde

Remains of a prehistoric timber roundhouse were identified on a proposed development site in 1992 by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD). In accordance with planning conditions an archaeological excavation by AOC Archaeology was undertaken in 1998, on behalf of Redrow Homes (Scotland) Ltd. Subsequent excavation of a small extension to the main area of investigation was funded by Historic Scotland. The excavation identified the remains of at least two timber roundhouses, one of which was dated to the mid second millennium bc. The site also contained a Neolithic structure and series of pits, some of which contained fragments of Grooved Ware pottery.

Excavation of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement features at Lamb's Nursery, Dalkeith, Midlothian

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Excavation of Neolithic and Bronze Age settlement features at Lamb's Nursery, Dalkeith, Midlothian