Prehistoric Scotland
Encyclopedia
Archaeology
and geology
continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex and dramatic 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 focussing on this particular geographical area helps to find out about the origin of the remains and monuments that are still widespread, and to understand 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.
(which later formed the bulk of North America
). During the Cambrian
period the crustal region which became Scotland formed part of the continental shelf of Laurentia, then still south of the equator. Laurentia was separated from the continent of Baltica
(which later became Scandinavia
and the Baltic region
) by the diminishing Iapetus Ocean
. The two ancient continents moved toward one another through the Cambrian and Ordovician
periods, with tectonic folding during the Silurian
pushing the first Scottish land above water. The final collision occurred during the Devonian
period, with the Scottish segment of the Laurentian plate smashing into Avalonia
(which contained what is now most of England
and Wales
), a motile subcontinent which had previously joined with Baltica. This impact threw up a massive chain of mountains (at least as tall as the present-day Alps
) and saw the formation of the granitic West Highland and Grampian mountain chains and (through the Carboniferous
) a period of volcanic activity in central and eastern Scotland. During the Permian
and Triassic
periods, with the Iapetus Ocean entirely closed, Scotland lay near the centre of the Pangaea
n supercontinent. With the advent of the Tertiary
, a constructive plate boundary became active between Laurentia and Eurasia, pushing the two apart (and parting Scotland from Laurentia forever). This recession opened the Atlantic Ocean
for the first time, and the consequent subduction zone at the western plate margin led to a renewed period of vulcanism, 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 Neogene and Quaternary
periods, the ice sheets and their attendant glaciers carving the landscape into a typical postglacial one, overdeeping river valleys into the characteristic U-shape and leaving the upland areas covered with glacial 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 crag
s.
, around 130,000 - 70,000 BC, there were times when climate in Europe was warmer than it is today, and after the Neanderthal
s came to prominence there was another mild spell around 40,000 BC. Neanderthal sites have been found in the south of England, and it is possible that early humans made their way to Scotland, though no traces have been found.
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 extended their range into Scotland. The earliest evidence to date are flint
artefacts found at Howburn Farm, near Elsrickle
in 2005. This is the first and so far only evidence of Upper Paleolithic human habitation in Scotland, which appears to fall between the Younger Dryas
and Lomond Stadial periods when cold conditions returned relatively briefly.
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 the acid soil, numerous carbonised hazelnut shells indicate cooking in a similar way to finds at other Mesolithic period sites including the slightly earlier Star Carr
and Britain's oldest house, the Howick house
in Northumberland
dated to 7600 BC
, where post holes indicate a very substantial construction, and the finds are interpreted as being 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 midden
s 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 are 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
on Wester Ross
facing Skye, excavations have shown that around 7500 BC people had tools of bone, stone and antler, 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.
Neolithic
farming brought permanent settlements. At Balbridie
in Aberdeenshire
crop markings were investigated and ditches and post holes found revealing a massive timber-framed building dating to about 3600 BC. An almost identical building was excavated at Claish near Stirling. At the islet of Eilean Domhnuill
, Loch Olabhat on North Uist
, Unstan ware
pottery suggests a date of 3200-2800 BC for what may be the earliest crannog
.
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. This is only a selection of highlights and there are many other examples across the country, often under the care of Historic Scotland
.
At the wonderfully well preserved stone house at Knap of Howar
on the Orkney
island of Papa Westray
(occupied from 3500 BC to 3100 BC) the walls stand to a low eaves height, and the stone furniture is intact. Evidence from middens shows that the inhabitants were keeping cattle, sheep and pigs, farming barley and wheat and gathering shellfish as well as fishing for species which have to be line caught using boats. Finely made and decorated Unstan ware
pottery links the inhabitants to chambered cairn
tombs nearby and to sites far afield including Balbrindi and Eilean Domhnuill
.
The houses at Skara Brae
on the Mainland of the Orkney Islands
are very similar, but grouped into a village linked by low passageways. This settlement was occupied from about 3000 BC to 2500 BC. Pottery found here is of the grooved ware
style which is found across Britain as far away as Wessex
.
About 6 miles (10 km) from Skara Brae, grooved ware pottery was found at the 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 magnificent 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.
As with the standing stones at Callanish
on Lewis
and other standing stones across Scotland, these monuments form part of the Europe wide Megalithic culture which also produced Stonehenge
in Wiltshire
and the stone rows at Carnac
in Brittany
.
The widespread connections these people had is shown by offerings imported from Cumbria
and Wales
left on the sacred hilltop at Cairnpapple Hill
, West Lothian
, as early as 3500 BC.
, which saw metals as an additional material rather than a replacement for flint. However there was a decline in both the building of large new structures and in the total area under cultivation from about 2500 B.C.
The Clava cairn
s and standing stones near Inverness
show complex geometries and astronomical alignments, with smaller perhaps individual tombs instead of the communal Neolithic tombs.
Mummies
dating from 1600-1300 B.C. 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.
times the Iron age
brought an age of forts and defended farmsteads, which supports 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.
Brythonic
(or "Pritennic") Celt
ic 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 Votadini
stronghold of Traprain Law
, East Lothian
, which was the size of a town. Huge numbers of small dun
s, hill fort
s and ring forts
were built on any suitable crag
or hillock. The spectacular broch
s were built, most impressively the near complete broch at Mousa
on Shetland
. Many Souterrain
underground passageways were constructed, though their purpose is obscure. Island settlements linked with a causeway to land, the crannog
s, became common; it is thought that their function was defensive.
:
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
continue to reveal the secrets of prehistoric Scotland, uncovering a complex and dramatic past before the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
brought Scotland into the scope of recorded history. Successive human cultures tended to be spread across Europe or further afield, but focussing on this particular geographical area helps to find out about the origin of the remains and monuments that are still widespread, and to understand the background to the history of Scotland
History of Scotland
The history of Scotland begins around 10,000 years ago, when humans first began to inhabit what is now Scotland after the end of the Devensian glaciation, the last ice age...
.
The extent of open countryside untouched by intensive farming, together with past availability of stone rather than timber, has given Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
a wealth of accessible sites where the ancient past can be seen.
The deep prehistory of Scotland
Scotland is geologically alien to Europe, comprising a lost sliver of the ancient continent of LaurentiaLaurentia
Laurentia is a large area of continental craton, which forms the ancient geological core of the North American continent...
(which later formed the bulk of North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
). During the Cambrian
Cambrian
The Cambrian is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, lasting from Mya ; it is succeeded by the Ordovician. Its subdivisions, and indeed its base, are somewhat in flux. The period was established by Adam Sedgwick, who named it after Cambria, the Latin name for Wales, where Britain's...
period the crustal region which became Scotland formed part of the continental shelf of Laurentia, then still south of the equator. Laurentia was separated from the continent of Baltica
Baltica
Baltica is a name applied by geologists to a late-Proterozoic, early-Palaeozoic continent that now includes the East European craton of northwestern Eurasia. Baltica was created as an entity not earlier than 1.8 billion years ago. Before this time, the three segments/continents that now comprise...
(which later became Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
and the Baltic region
Baltic region
The terms Baltic region, Baltic Rim countries, and Baltic Rim refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea.- Etymology :...
) by the diminishing Iapetus Ocean
Iapetus Ocean
The Iapetus Ocean was an ocean that existed in the Neoproterozoic and Paleozoic eras of the geologic timescale . The Iapetus Ocean was situated in the southern hemisphere, between the paleocontinents of Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia...
. The two ancient continents moved toward one another through the Cambrian and Ordovician
Ordovician
The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago . It follows the Cambrian Period and is followed by the Silurian Period...
periods, with tectonic folding during the Silurian
Silurian
The Silurian is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Ordovician Period, about 443.7 ± 1.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Devonian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya . As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the...
pushing the first Scottish land above water. The final collision occurred during the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
period, with the Scottish segment of the Laurentian plate smashing into Avalonia
Avalonia
Avalonia was a microcontinent in the Paleozoic era. Crustal fragments of this former microcontinent underlie south-west Great Britain, and the eastern coast of North America. It is the source of many of the older rocks of Western Europe, Atlantic Canada, and parts of the coastal United States...
(which contained what is now most of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
), a motile subcontinent which had previously joined with Baltica. This impact threw up a massive chain of mountains (at least as tall as the present-day Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
) and saw the formation of the granitic West Highland and Grampian mountain chains and (through the Carboniferous
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya , to the beginning of the Permian Period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Mya . The name is derived from the Latin word for coal, carbo. Carboniferous means "coal-bearing"...
) a period of volcanic activity in central and eastern Scotland. During the Permian
Permian
The PermianThe term "Permian" was introduced into geology in 1841 by Sir Sir R. I. Murchison, president of the Geological Society of London, who identified typical strata in extensive Russian explorations undertaken with Edouard de Verneuil; Murchison asserted in 1841 that he named his "Permian...
and Triassic
Triassic
The Triassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 250 to 200 Mya . As the first period of the Mesozoic Era, the Triassic follows the Permian and is followed by the Jurassic. Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events...
periods, with the Iapetus Ocean entirely closed, Scotland lay near the centre of the Pangaea
Pangaea
Pangaea, Pangæa, or Pangea is hypothesized as a supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago, before the component continents were separated into their current configuration....
n supercontinent. With the advent of the Tertiary
Tertiary
The Tertiary is a deprecated term for a geologic period 65 million to 2.6 million years ago. The Tertiary covered the time span between the superseded Secondary period and the Quaternary...
, a constructive plate boundary became active between Laurentia and Eurasia, pushing the two apart (and parting Scotland from Laurentia forever). This recession opened the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
for the first time, and the consequent subduction zone at the western plate margin led to a renewed period of vulcanism, this time on Scotland's west coast, producing fresh mountains on Skye, Jura
Jura, Scotland
Jura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, situated adjacent and to the north-east of Islay. Part of the island is designated as a National Scenic Area. Until the twentieth century Jura was dominated - and most of it was eventually owned - by the Campbell clan of Inveraray Castle on Loch...
, Mull
Isle of Mull
The Isle of Mull or simply Mull is the second largest island of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland in the council area of Argyll and Bute....
, Rùm
Rùm
Rùm , a Scottish Gaelic name often anglicised to Rum) is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland...
, and Arran
Isle of Arran
Arran or the Isle of Arran is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, and with an area of is the seventh largest Scottish island. It is in the unitary council area of North Ayrshire and the 2001 census had a resident population of 5,058...
.
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 Neogene and Quaternary
Quaternary
The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...
periods, the ice sheets and their attendant glaciers carving the landscape into a typical postglacial one, overdeeping river valleys into the characteristic U-shape and leaving the upland areas covered with glacial 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 crag
Crag and tail
A crag is a rocky hill or mountain, generally isolated from other high ground. Crags are formed when a glacier or ice sheet passes over an area that contains a particularly resistant rock formation...
s.
Before modern humans
During the last interglacialInterglacial
An Interglacial period is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age...
, around 130,000 - 70,000 BC, there were times when climate in Europe was warmer than it is today, and after the Neanderthal
Neanderthal
The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
s came to prominence there was another mild spell around 40,000 BC. Neanderthal sites have been found in the south of England, and it is possible that early humans made their way to Scotland, though no traces have been found.
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
As the climate improved mesolithicMesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
hunter-gatherers extended their range into Scotland. The earliest evidence to date are flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
artefacts found at Howburn Farm, near Elsrickle
Elsrickle
Elsrickle is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It lies on Blackmount Hill which is on the end of the Pentland Hills.It is very rural....
in 2005. This is the first and so far only evidence of Upper Paleolithic human habitation in Scotland, which appears to fall between the Younger Dryas
Younger Dryas
The Younger Dryas stadial, also referred to as the Big Freeze, was a geologically brief period of cold climatic conditions and drought between approximately 12.8 and 11.5 ka BP, or 12,800 and 11,500 years before present...
and Lomond Stadial periods when cold conditions returned relatively briefly.
An early settlement at Cramond
Cramond
Cramond is a seaside village now part of suburban Edinburgh, Scotland, located in the north-west corner of the city at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth....
, near what is today Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, has been dated to around 8500 BC
9th millennium BC
The 9th millennium BC marks the beginning of the Neolithic period.Agriculture spread throughout the Fertile Crescent and use of pottery became more widespread. Larger settlements like Jericho arose along salt and flint trade routes. Northern Eurasia was resettled as the glaciers of the last glacial...
. Pits and stakeholes suggest a hunter-gatherer encampment, and microlith
Microlith
A microlith is a small stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. It is produced from either a small blade or a larger blade-like piece of flint by abrupt or truncated retouching, which leaves a very typical piece of waste,...
stone tools made at the site predate finds of similar style in England. Although no bones or shells had survived the acid soil, numerous carbonised hazelnut shells indicate cooking in a similar way to finds at other Mesolithic period sites including the slightly earlier Star Carr
Star Carr
Star Carr is a Mesolithic archaeological site in North Yorkshire, England. It is around five miles south of Scarborough.It is generally regarded as the most important and informative Mesolithic site in Great Britain...
and Britain's oldest house, the Howick house
Howick house
The Howick house Mesolithic site was found when an amateur archaeologist noticed flint tools eroding out of a sandy cliff face near the village of Howick in Northumberland, England...
in Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
dated to 7600 BC
8th millennium BC
In the 8th millennium BC, agriculture became widely practised in the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia.Pottery became widespread and animal husbandry spread to Africa and Eurasia. World population was approximately 5 million.-Events:*c. 8000 BC—The last glacial period ends.*c...
, where post holes indicate a very substantial construction, and the finds are interpreted as being 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 midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
s 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 are 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
Sand, Applecross
Sand on the Applecross Peninsula in Wester Ross, Scotland is a major archaeological site.Sand is the site of a major archaeological excavation on the Inner Sound coast of the Applecross Peninsula in Western Scotland, to the north of the small town of Applecross.A small number of shell middens were...
on Wester Ross
Ross and Cromarty
Ross and Cromarty is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use...
facing Skye, excavations have shown that around 7500 BC people had tools of bone, stone and antler, 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
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
farming brought permanent settlements. At Balbridie
Balbridie
Balbridie is the site of a Neolithic timberhouse in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated in the south Deeside near the B9077 road. This archaeological site is one of the earliest known permanent neolithic settlements in Scotland, dating to 3400 to 4000 BC...
in Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
crop markings were investigated and ditches and post holes found revealing a massive timber-framed building dating to about 3600 BC. An almost identical building was excavated at Claish near Stirling. At the islet of Eilean Domhnuill
Eilean Domhnuill
Armit identifies the islet of Eilean Dòmhnuill , Loch Olabhat on North Uist, Scotland as what may be the earliest crannog. Unstan ware pottery found there suggests a Neolithic period date of 3200-2800 BC...
, Loch Olabhat on North Uist
North Uist
North Uist is an island and community in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.-Geography:North Uist is the tenth largest Scottish island and the thirteenth largest island surrounding Great Britain. It has an area of , slightly smaller than South Uist. North Uist is connected by causeways to Benbecula...
, Unstan ware
Unstan ware
Unstan ware is the name used by archaeologists for a type of finely made and decorated Neolithic pottery from the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. Typical are elegant and distinctive shallow bowls with a band of grooved patterning below the rim, using a technique known as "stab-and-drag". A second version...
pottery suggests a date of 3200-2800 BC for what may be the earliest crannog
Crannog
A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia from the European Neolithic Period, to as late as the 17th/early 18th century although in Scotland,...
.
The remainder of this section focuses mainly on the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
, 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. This is only a selection of highlights and there are many other examples across the country, often under the care of Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.-Role:As its website states:...
.
At the wonderfully well preserved stone house at Knap of Howar
Knap of Howar
At Knap of Howar on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland, a Neolithic farmstead may be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe...
on the Orkney
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
island of Papa Westray
Papa Westray
Papa Westray, also known as Papay, is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with a population of 65 at the time of the 2001 Census, now increased to 70 people...
(occupied from 3500 BC to 3100 BC) the walls stand to a low eaves height, and the stone furniture is intact. Evidence from middens shows that the inhabitants were keeping cattle, sheep and pigs, farming barley and wheat and gathering shellfish as well as fishing for species which have to be line caught using boats. Finely made and decorated Unstan ware
Unstan ware
Unstan ware is the name used by archaeologists for a type of finely made and decorated Neolithic pottery from the 4th and 3rd millennia BC. Typical are elegant and distinctive shallow bowls with a band of grooved patterning below the rim, using a technique known as "stab-and-drag". A second version...
pottery links the inhabitants to chambered cairn
Chambered cairn
A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable chamber was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also passage-graves....
tombs nearby and to sites far afield including Balbrindi and Eilean Domhnuill
Eilean Domhnuill
Armit identifies the islet of Eilean Dòmhnuill , Loch Olabhat on North Uist, Scotland as what may be the earliest crannog. Unstan ware pottery found there suggests a Neolithic period date of 3200-2800 BC...
.
The houses at Skara Brae
Skara Brae
Skara Brae is a large stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It consists of ten clustered houses, and was occupied from roughly 3180 BCE–2500 BCE...
on the Mainland of the Orkney Islands
Orkney Islands
Orkney also known as the Orkney Islands , is an archipelago in northern Scotland, situated north of the coast of Caithness...
are very similar, but grouped into a village linked by low passageways. This settlement was occupied from about 3000 BC to 2500 BC. Pottery found here is of the grooved ware
Grooved ware people
Most Neolithic cultures in Britain are best identified by the pottery remains which they left. A large number of apparently unrelated cultures seem to have produced urns which have characteristic grooves near the top rim, hence the name grooved ware people....
style which is found across Britain as far away as Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
.
About 6 miles (10 km) from Skara Brae, grooved ware pottery was found at the Standing Stones of Stenness (originally a circle) which lie centrally in a close group of three major monuments.
Maeshowe
Maeshowe
Maeshowe is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. The monuments around Maeshowe, including Skara Brae, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney...
, the finest example of the passage grave
Passage grave
thumb|250px|right|A simple passage tomb in [[Carrowmore]] near [[Sligo]] in IrelandA passage grave or passage tomb consists of a narrow passage made of large stones and one or multiple burial chambers covered in earth or stone. Megaliths are usually used in the construction of passage tombs, which...
type of chambered cairn
Chambered cairn
A chambered cairn is a burial monument, usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable chamber was constructed. Some chambered cairns are also passage-graves....
(radiocarbon dated to before 2700 BC) lies just to the east.
The magnificent Ring of Brodgar
Ring of Brodgar
The Ring of Brodgar is a Neolithic henge and stone circle on the Mainland, the largest island in Orkney, Scotland...
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
Alexander Thom
Alexander "Sandy" Thom was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard, categorization of stone circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites.- Life and work :...
to establish the likely use of standing stones as astronomical observatories. Another Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
village has been found nearby at Barnhouse Settlement
Barnhouse Settlement
The Neolithic Barnhouse Settlement is sited by the shore of Loch of Harray, Orkney Mainland, Scotland, not far from the Standing Stones of Stenness. It was discovered in 1984. The base courses of at least 15 houses have been found...
, and the inference is that these farming people were the builders and users of these mysterious structures.
As with the standing stones at Callanish
Callanish
Callanish is a village on the West Side of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides , Scotland. A linear settlement with a jetty, it is situated on a headland jutting into Loch Roag, a sea loch...
on Lewis
Lewis
Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
and other standing stones across Scotland, these monuments form part of the Europe wide Megalithic culture which also produced Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
and the stone rows at Carnac
Carnac
Carnac is a commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany in the Morbihan department in north-western France.Its inhabitants are called Carnacois...
in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
.
The widespread connections these people had is shown by offerings imported from Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...
and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
left on the sacred hilltop at Cairnpapple Hill
Cairnpapple Hill
Cairnpapple Hill is a hill with a dominating position in central lowland Scotland with views from coast to coast. It was used and re-used as a major ritual site over about 4000 years, and in its day would have been comparable to better known sites like the Standing Stones of Stenness. The summit...
, West Lothian
West Lothian
West Lothian is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire, the Scottish Borders and South Lanarkshire....
, as early as 3500 BC.
Bronze age
The cairns and Megalithic monuments continued into the Bronze ageBronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
, which saw metals as an additional material rather than a replacement for flint. However there was a decline in both the building of large new structures and in the total area under cultivation from about 2500 B.C.
The Clava cairn
Clava cairn
The Clava cairn is a type of Bronze Age circular chamber tomb cairn, named after the group of 3 cairns at Balnuaran of Clava, to the east of Inverness in Scotland. There are about 50 cairns of this type in an area round about Inverness...
s and standing stones near Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
show complex geometries and astronomical alignments, with smaller perhaps individual tombs instead of the communal Neolithic tombs.
Mummies
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
dating from 1600-1300 B.C. have been discovered at Cladh Hallan
Cladh Hallan
Cladh Hallan is an archaeological site on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. It is significant as the only place in Great Britain where prehistoric mummies have been found. Excavations were carried out there between 1988 and 2002....
on South Uist
South Uist
South Uist is an island of the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. In the 2001 census it had a usually resident population of 1,818. There is a nature reserve and a number of sites of archaeological interest, including the only location in Great Britain where prehistoric mummies have been found. The...
.
Hill forts were introduced, such as Eildon hill
Eildon Hill
Not to be confused with Eldon Hill, EnglandEildon Hill lies just south of Melrose, Scotland in the Scottish Borders, overlooking the town. The name is usually pluralised into "the Eildons" or "Eildon Hills", because of its triple peak....
near Melrose in the Scottish Borders
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...
which goes back to around 1000 BC and which accommodated several hundred houses on a fortified hilltop. Excavation at Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
found late Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
material from about 850 BC.
Iron age
From around 700 BC extending into RomanScotland during the Roman Empire
Scotland during the Roman Empire encompasses a period of protohistory from the arrival of Roman legions in c. AD 71 to their departure in 213. The history of the period is complex: the Roman empire influenced every part of Scotland during the period, however the occupation was neither complete nor...
times the Iron age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
brought an age of forts and defended farmsteads, which supports 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.
Brythonic
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
(or "Pritennic") Celt
Celt
The Celts were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages.The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic, was the central European Hallstatt culture , named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria....
ic culture and language spread into southern Scotland at some time after the 8th century BC
8th century BC
The 8th century BC started the first day of 800 BC and ended the last day of 701 BC.-Overview:The 8th century BC was a period of great changes in civilizations. In Egypt, the 23rd and 24th dynasties led to rule from Nubia in the 25th Dynasty...
, possibly through cultural contact rather than mass invasion, and systems of kingdoms developed.
Larger fortified settlements expanded, such as the Votadini
Votadini
The Votadini were a people of the Iron Age in Great Britain, and their territory was briefly part of the Roman province Britannia...
stronghold of Traprain Law
Traprain Law
Traprain Law is a hill about 221m in elevation, located east of Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. It is the site of an oppidum or hill fort, which covered at its maximum extent about 16 ha and must have been a veritable town...
, East Lothian
East Lothian
East Lothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy Area. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Scottish Borders and Midlothian. Its administrative centre is Haddington, although its largest town is Musselburgh....
, which was the size of a town. Huge numbers of small dun
Dun
Dun is now used both as a generic term for a fort and also for a specific variety of Atlantic roundhouse...
s, hill fort
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
s and ring forts
Ringfort
Ringforts are circular fortified settlements that were mostly built during the Iron Age , although some were built as late as the Early Middle Ages . They are found in Northern Europe, especially in Ireland...
were built on any suitable crag
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...
or hillock. The spectacular broch
Broch
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs include some of the most sophisticated examples of drystone architecture ever created, and belong to the classification "complex Atlantic Roundhouse" devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s....
s were built, most impressively the near complete broch at Mousa
Mousa
Mousa is a small island in Shetland, Scotland, uninhabited since the nineteenth century. The island is known for the Broch of Mousa, an Iron Age round tower, and is designated as a Special Protection Area for storm-petrel breeding colonies.-Geography:...
on Shetland
Shetland Islands
Shetland is a subarctic archipelago of Scotland that lies north and east of mainland Great Britain. The islands lie some to the northeast of Orkney and southeast of the Faroe Islands and form part of the division between the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the North Sea to the east. The total...
. Many Souterrain
Souterrain
Souterrain is a name given by archaeologists to a type of underground structure associated mainly with the Atlantic Iron Age. These structures appear to have been brought northwards from Gaul during the late Iron Age. Regional names include earth houses, fogous and Pictish houses...
underground passageways were constructed, though their purpose is obscure. Island settlements linked with a causeway to land, the crannog
Crannog
A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Crannogs were used as dwellings over five millennia from the European Neolithic Period, to as late as the 17th/early 18th century although in Scotland,...
s, became common; it is thought that their function was defensive.
Access - guide books
The government website, Historic Scotland, provides access to many sites and monuments including most of those mentioned above, and others are freely accessible making exploring the distant past open to anyone with a guide book and map. The following were used as references.- Scotland Before History - Stuart Piggott, Edinburgh University Press 1982, ISBN 0-7524-1400-3
- Scotland's Hidden History - Ian Armit, Tempus (in association with Historic Scotland) 1998, ISBN 0-85224-348-0
See also
- Timeline of prehistoric ScotlandTimeline of prehistoric ScotlandThis timeline of prehistoric Scotland is a chronologically ordered list of important archaeological sites in Scotland and of major events affecting Scotland's human inhabitants and culture during the prehistoric period. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the...
- Prehistoric OrkneyPrehistoric OrkneyPrehistoric Orkney refers to a period in the human occupation of the Orkney archipelago of Scotland that was the latter part of these islands' prehistory. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the geology of Scotland...
- Prehistoric BritainPrehistoric BritainFor the purposes of this article, Prehistoric Britain is that period of time between the first arrival of humans on the land mass now known as Great Britain and the start of recorded British history...
- List of prehistoric structures in Great Britain
- Early history of IrelandEarly history of IrelandThe early medieval history of Ireland, often called Early Christian Ireland, spans the 5th to 8th centuries, from the gradual emergence out of the protohistoric period to the beginning of the Viking Age...
- Genetic history of the British IslesGenetic history of the British IslesThe genetic history of the British Isles is the subject of research within the larger field of human population genetics. It has developed in parallel with DNA testing technologies capable of identifying genetic similarities and differences between populations...
Further reading
- Scotland Since Prehistory: Natural Change and Human Impact, by Christopher SmoutChristopher SmoutThomas Christopher Smout CBE, FBA, FRSE, is a Scottish academic, historian, author and Historiographer Royal in Scotland.-Career:Smout taught at the University of Edinburgh, from 1959 until 1980...
, 1993, Scottish Cultural Press, ISBN 189821803X - Mesolithic Scotland and Its Neighbours, by Alan Saville, 2004, Society of Antiquaries of ScotlandSociety of Antiquaries of ScotlandThe Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body in Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh...
, ISBN 0903903288 - Scotland: From Prehistory to the Present, by Fiona Watson, 2003, ISBN 0752425919
- The Early Prehistory of Scotland, by Tony PollardTony PollardTony Pollard is an archaeologist specialising in the archaeology of conflict. He is Director of the Centre for Battlefield Archaeology at Glasgow University...
and Alex Morrison, 1996, ISBN 0585104204 - The Later Prehistory of the Western Isles of Scotland, by Ian Armit, 1992, ISBN 0860547310
- Prehistoric Scotland, by Ann MacSween and Mick Sharp, 1989, ISBN 071346173X
- Guide to Prehistoric Scotland, by Richard Feachem, 1977, Simon & Schuster
- Prehistoric Scotland, by Richard Feachem and Urho Kekkonen, 1963
- A Guide to Prehistoric Scotland, by Richard Feachem, 1963, Batsford
- Prehistoric Scotland, by Vere Gordon ChildeVere Gordon ChildeVere Gordon Childe , better known as V. Gordon Childe, was an Australian archaeologist and philologist who specialised in the study of European prehistory. A vocal socialist, Childe accepted the socio-economic theory of Marxism and was an early proponent of Marxist archaeology...
, 1940, G Bell and Sons - The Prehistory of Scotland, by Vere Gordon Childe, 1935, K Paul, Trench, Trubner & co
- Prehistoric Scotland and Its Place in European Civilization, by Robert Munro, 1899, W Blackwood and sons
External links
- ScottishGeology.com
- Scotland's Past
- BBC - History - Britain's Oldest House? A Journey into the Stone Age
- History Scotland Magazine: First Settlers - Sand
- The Megalithic Portal and Megalith Map: Rubbish dump reveals time-capsule of Scotland's earliest settlements
- The National Trust for Scotland - Press Releases - Archaeological find at Mar Lodge Estate
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