Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T02:17:01.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The wet, the wild and the domesticated: The Mesolithic–Neolithic transition on the west coast of Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Rick J. Schulting  and
Michael P. Richards
Rick J. Schulting*
Affiliation:
Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
Michael P. Richards*
Affiliation:
University of Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
*
[email: [email protected]]
[email: [email protected]]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Models of the Mesolithic–Neolithic transition in Britain in recent years have tended to downplay the role of changes in the subsistence economy, emphasizing a very gradual adoption of new domesticated resources. This view has been particularly pervasive for the west coast of Scotland, which in the context of Britain presents a relatively marginal environment for farming. In this article, we challenge this too-quickly emerging orthodoxy through the presentation and discussion of both new and previously published stable isotope data and AMS dates. The palaeodietary information, while limited, strongly suggests a very rapid and complete change in the subsistence economy coincident with the earliest manifestations of the Neolithic on the west coast of Scotland early in the fourth millennium cal. BC. Whatever explanation is invoked to account for the transition needs to engage with the isotopic data. The possibility of colonization at some level needs to be seriously reconsidered.

Les modèles récents de la transition du méso- au néolithique en Grande-Bretagne ont tendance à minimiser le rôle des changements dans l'économie de subsistance, en faisant valoir une adoption progressive de nouvelles ressources domestiquées. Cet avis s'est surtout imposé pour la côte ouest de l'Ecosse, qui, dans le contexte britannique, représente un environnement plutôt insignifiant pour l'agriculture. Dans cet article, cette orthodoxie émergeant trop rapidement est mise en question à l'aide de données – nouvelles ainsi que déjà publiées – sur les isotopes stables et AMS. Notre savoir sur la paléo-alimentation, bien que limité, suggère expressément un changement rapide et complet de l'économie substantielle, allant de pair avec les premières manifestations du néolithique à la côte ouest de l'Ecosse au début du 4e millénaire av.JC. Toute explication évoquée pour rendre compte de cette transition doit être confrontée avec les dates isotopiques. De même, il faudra reconsidérer sérieusement la possibilité d'une colonisation à un certain moment.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Modelle des Übergangs vom Mesolithikum zum Neolithikum in Großbritannien haben in den letzten Jahren dazu tendiert, die Rolle der Subsistenz-Ökonomie herunterzuspielen. Sie betonten eine allmähliche Annahme der neuen domestizierten Ressourcen. Diese Ansicht war besonders eindringlich für die schottische Westküste geäußert worden, die im britischen Kontext ein relativ marginaler landwirtschaftlicher Raum ist. Im vorliegenden Aufsatz hinterfragen wir diese zu schnell auftauchende Orthodoxie anhand von neuen wie auch bereits publizierten Stable-Isotope-Analysen und AMS-Daten. Die Informationen zu Paläodiäten weisen – wenn sie auch begrenzt sind – ausdrücklich auf einen sehr plötzlichen und kompletten Wechsel in der Subsistenz-Ökonomie, der mit den frühesten Erscheinungsformen des Neolithikums and der Westküste Schottland im frühen 4. Jahrtausend BC übereinstimmt. Welche Erklärung auch immer für die Veränderung herangezogen wird – sie muß mit den Isotopen-Daten abgeglichen sein. Die Möglichkeit einer Form von Kolonialisierung sollte erneut ernsthaft in Erwägung gezogen werden.

Keywords

marine resourcesMesolithic-Neolithic transitionpalaeodietScotlandstable isotope analysisanalyse d'isotopes stablesEcossepaléo-alimentationressources maritimestransition du méso- au néolithiquemarine RessourcenPaläodiätSchottlandStable Isotope AnalysisÜbergang vom Mesolithikum zum Neolithikum
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , 2002 , pp. 147 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © 2002 Sage Publications 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexander, D., 2000. Red Castle, Lunan Bay, Angus. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999:111.Google Scholar
Ambers, J., Matthews, K. and Bowman, S., 1991. British Museum natural radiocarbon measurements XXII. Radiocarbon 33:51–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ambrose, S.H., 1993. Isotope analysis of paleodiets: methodological and interpretive considerations. In Sandford, M.K. (ed.), Investigations of Ancient Human Tissue: Chemical Analyses in Anthropology: 59–130. Langhorne, PA: Gordon and Breach.Google Scholar
Ambrose, S.H. and Norr, L., 1993. Experimental evidence for the relationship of the carbon isotope ratios of whole diet and dietary protein to those of bone collagen and carbonate. In Lambert, J.B. and Grupe, G. (eds), Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level: 1–37. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Armit, I., 1996. The Archaeology of Skye and the Western Isles. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Armit, I., forthcoming. Permanence and transience in the Hebridean Neolithic. In Armit, I., Murphy, E., Nelis, E. and Simpson, D. (eds), Neolithic Settlement in Ireland and Western Britain. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Armit, I. and Finlayson, B., 1992. Hunter-gatherers transformed: the transition to agriculture in northern and western Europe. Antiquity 66:664–676.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armit, I. and Finlayson, B., 1995. Social strategies and economic change: pottery in context. In Barnett, W. and Hoopes, J. (eds), The Emergence of Pottery: 267–275. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Armit, I. and Finlayson, B., 1996. The transition to agriculture. In Pollard, T. and Morrison, A. (eds), The Early Prehistory of Scotland: 269–290. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashmore, P.J., 1996. Radiocarbon dates from archaeological sites in Argyll and Arran. Unpublished report on file with author.Google Scholar
Barclay, G.J., 1996. Neolithic buildings in Scotland. In Darvill, T. and Thomas, J. (eds), Neolithic Houses in Europe and Beyond: 61–75. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Barclay, G.J., 2000. Between Orkney and Wessex: the search for the regional Neolithics of Britain. In Ritchie, A. (ed.), Neolithic Orkney in its European Context: 275–285. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Barker, G., 1983. The animal bones. In Hedges, J.W. (ed.), Isbister: A Chambered Tomb in Orkney: 133–150. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (British Series 115).Google Scholar
Barrett, J.A., Beukens, R.P. and Brothwell, D.R., 2000a. Radiocarbon dating and marine reservoir correction of Viking Age Christian burials from Orkney. Antiquity 74:537–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, J., Beukens, R., Simpson, I., Ashmore, P., Poaps, S. and Huntley, J., 2000b. What was the Viking Age and when did it happen? A view from Orkney. Norwegian Archaeological Review 33:1–39.Google Scholar
Bender, B., 1992. The Neolithic rethought. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 2:270–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birks, H.J.B., 1993. Din Moss. In Gordon, J.E. and Sutherland, D.G. (eds), Quaternary of Scotland: 584–587. London: Chapman and Hall.Google Scholar
Boas, F., 1966. Kwakiutl Ethnography (edited by Codere, H.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bocherens, H., Fizet, M., Mariotti, A., Lange-Badre, B., Vandermeersch, B., Borel, J.P. and Bellon, G., 1991. Isotopic biogeochemistry (13C, 15N) of fossil vertebrate collagen: application to the study of a past food web including Neanderthal Man. Journal of Human Evolution 20:481–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bocherens, H., Fogel, M.L., Tuross, N., and Zeder, M., 1995. Trophic structure and climatic information from isotopic signatures in Pleistocene cave fauna of southern England. Journal of Archaeological Science 22:327–340.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C., 2000. Oban - Raschoille. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999:112.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C., and Smith, C., 1992. New AMS dates for antler and bone artifacts from Great Britain. Mesolithic Miscellany 13(2):28–34.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C., Anderson, D.E., and Macklin, M.G., in press. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in western Scotland and its European context. In Saville, A. (ed.), Mesolithic Scotland: The Early Holocene Prehistory of Scotland and its European Context. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C., Lennon, R., McSweeney, K., Harkness, D., Boroneant, V., Bartosiewicz, L., Payton, R. and Chapman, J., 1997. Mesolithic and early Neolithic in the Iron Gates: a palaeodietary perspective. Journal of European Archaeology 5:50–92.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C., Macklin, M.G., Anderson, D.E. and Payton, R.W., 2002. Climate change and the adoption of agriculture in north-west Europe. European Journal of Archaeology 5(1).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonsall, C., Sutherland, D.G., Lawson, T.J., and Russell, N.J., 1992. Excavations in Ulva Cave, western Scotland 1989: a preliminary report. Mesolithic Miscellany 13:7–13.Google Scholar
Bonsall, C., Sutherland, D.G., Russell, N.J., Coles, G., Paul, C.R.C., Huntley, J.P., and Lawson, T.J., 1994. Excavations in Ulva Cave, western Scotland 1990–91: a preliminary report. Mesolithic Miscellany 15:8–21.Google Scholar
Bradley, R., 1987. Flint technology and the character of Neolithic settlement. In Brown, A.G. and Edmonds, M.R. (eds), Lithic Analysis and Late British Prehistory: 181–185. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (British Series 162).Google Scholar
Bradley, R., 1993. Altering the Earth: The Origins of Monuments in Britain and Continental Europe. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.Google Scholar
Brinch Petersen, E., 1974. Gravene ved Dragsholm. Fra Jægere til Bønder for 6000 År Siden. Nationalmeseets Arbejdsmark 1974: 112–120.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., Pettitt, P.B., Hedges, R.E.M., Hodges, G.W.L and Owen, D.C. 1999. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 28. Archaeometry 41:421–431.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., Pettitt, P.B., Hedges, R.E.M., Hodges, G.W.L and Owen, D.C. 2000. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS system: Archaeometry Datelist 30. Archaeometry 42:459–479.Google Scholar
Bryce, T.H., 1904. On the cairns and tumuli of the island of Bute. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 38:17–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burleigh, R., Ambers, J. and Matthews, K., 1982. British Museum natural radiocarbon measurements XIV. Radiocarbon 24:229–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bush, M.B. and Flenley, J.R., 1987. The age of British chalk grasslands. Nature 329:434–436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Case, H.J., 1969. Neolithic explanations. Antiquity 43:176–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlain, A.T., 1996. More dating evidence for human remains in British caves. Antiquity 70:950–953.Google Scholar
Chapman, R., 1981. The emergence of formal disposal areas and the ‘problem’ of megalithic tombs in prehistoric Europe. In Chapman, R., Kinnes, I., and Randsborg, K. (eds), The Archaeology of Death: 71–81. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chapman, R., 1988. Mesolithic to Neolithic in the Firth of Clyde: some comments. Scottish Archaeological Review 5:56–58.Google Scholar
Chapman, R., 1995. Ten years after - megaliths, mortuary practices, and the territorial model. In Beck, L.A. (ed.), Regional Approaches to Mortuary Analysis: 29–51. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chisholm, B.S., Nelson, D.E., and Schwarcz, H.P., 1982. Stable isotope ratios as a measure of marine versus terrestrial protein in ancient diets. Science 216:1131–1132.Google Scholar
Colley, S., 1983a. Interpreting prehistoric fishing strategies: an Orkney case study. In Grigson, C. and Clutton-Brock, J. (eds), Animals and Archaeology: 2. Shell Middens, Fishes and Birds: 157–171. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (International Series 183).Google Scholar
Colley, S., 1983b. The marine faunal remains. In Hedges, J.W. (ed.), Isbister: A Chambered Tomb in Orkney: 151–158. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (British Series 115).Google Scholar
Connock, K.D., 1990. A shell midden at Carding Mill Bay, Oban. Scottish Archaeological Review 7:74–76.Google Scholar
Connock, K.D., Finlayson, B., and Mills, C.M., 1992. A shell-midden with burials at Carding Mill Bay, near Oban, Scotland. Glasgow Archaeological Journal 17:25–38.Google Scholar
Cook, M.J., 2000. Mill Road cist, Linlithgow. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999: 114.Google Scholar
Cooney, G., 1997. Images of settlement and the landscape in the Neolithic. In Topping, P. (ed.), Neolithic Landscapes: 23–31. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Cooney, G., 2000. Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Corcoran, J.X.W.P., 1967. Excavation of three chambered cairns at Loch Calder, Caithness. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 98:1–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corcoran, J.X.W.P., 1973. The chambered cairns of the Carlingford culture: an enquiry into origins. In Daniel, G. and Kjærum, P. (eds), Megalithic Graves and Ritual: 105–116. Copenhagen: Jutland Archaeological Society.Google Scholar
Cressey, M., 2001. Al Dualling, Dunbar. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 2000:122.Google Scholar
Done, G., 1991. The animal bone. In Needham, S. (ed.), Excavation and Salvage at Runnymede Bridge, 1978: The Late Bronze Age Waterfront Site: 327–342. London: British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Downes, J., 2000. An Corran Boreray. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999:114.Google Scholar
Drucker, P., 1951. The Northern and Central Nootkan Tribes. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 144. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.Google Scholar
Edwards, K.J., 1989. The cereal pollen record and early agriculture. In Milles, A., Williams, D., and Gardner, N. (eds), The Beginnings of Agriculture: 113–135. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (International Series 496).Google Scholar
Edwards, K.J., 1996. A Mesolithic of the Western and Northern Isles of Scotland? evidence from pollen and charcoal. In Pollard, T. and Morrison, A. (eds), The Early Prehistory of Scotland: 23–38. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, K.J. and Hirons, K.R., 1984. Cereal pollen grains in pre-elm decline deposits: implications for the earliest agriculture in Britain and Ireland. Journal of Archaeological Science 11:71–80.Google Scholar
Edwards, K.J., Ansell, M. and Carter, B.A., 1983. New Mesolithic sites in south-west Scotland and their importance as indicators of inland penetration. Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 58:9–15.Google Scholar
Edwards, K.J., McIntosh, C.J., and Robinson, D.E., 1986. Optimizing the detection of cereal-type pollen grains in pre-elm decline deposits. Circaea 4:11–13.Google Scholar
Eogan, E., 1996. Neolithic houses in Ireland. In Darvill, T. and Thomas, J. (eds), Neolithic Houses in Europe and Beyond: 41–60. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Eogan, G. and Roche, H., 1997. Pre-tomb Neolithic house discovered at Knowth, Co. Meath. Archaeology Ireland 11:31.Google Scholar
Evans, J.G., 1971. Notes on the environment of early farming communities in Britain. In Simpson, D.D.A. (ed.), Economy and Settlement in Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain and Europe: 11–73. Leicester: Leicester University Press. EVANS, J.G., 1999. Land and Archaeology. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus.Google Scholar
Ewart, G., 2000. Stirling Castle. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999:114.Google Scholar
Fairweather, A.D. and Ralston, I.B.M., 1993. The Neolithic timber hall at Balbridie, Grampion Region, Scotland: the building, the date, the plant macrofossils. Antiquity 67:313–323.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B., 1995. Complexity in the Mesolithic of the western Scottish seaboard. In Fischer, A. (ed.), Man and Sea in the Mesolithic: 261–264. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Finlayson, B. and Edwards, K.J., 1997. The Mesolithic. In Edwards, K.J. and Ralston, I. (eds), Scotland: Environment and Archaeology, 8000 BC-AD 1000: 109–125. London: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Fry, B., 1988. Food web structure on Georges Bank from stable C, N, and S isotopic compositions. Limnology and Oceanography 33:1182–1190.Google Scholar
Garton, D., 1991. Neolithic settlement in the Peak District: perspectives and prospects. In Hodges, R. and Smith, K. (eds), Recent Developments in the Archaeology of the Peak District: 3–21. Sheffield: Sheffield Archaeological Monographs 2.Google Scholar
Giesemann, A., Jager, H.J., Norman, A.L., Krouse, H.R. and Brand, W.A., 1994. On line sulphur-isotope determination using an elemental analyzer coupled to a mass spectrometer. Analytical Chemistry 66:2816–2819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorecki, P.P., 1991. Horticulturalists as hunter-gatherers: rock shelter usage in Papua New Guinea. In Gamble, C.S. and Boismier, W.A. (eds), Ethnoarchaeological Approaches to Mobile Campsites: 237–263. Ann Arbor, MI: International Monographs in Prehistory.Google Scholar
Greig, C., M. Greig and P. Ashmore, 2000. Lundin Links Pictish cemetery. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999:112.Google Scholar
Grigson, C., 1999. The mammalian remains. In Whittle, A., Pollard, J., and Grigson, C. (eds), The Harmony of Symbols: The Windmill Hill Causewayed Enclosure, Wiltshire: 164–252. Oxford: Oxbow.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grigson, C. and Mellars, P.A., 1987. The mammalian remains from the middens. In Mellars, P.A. (ed.), Excavations on Oronsay. Prehistoric Human Ecology on a Small Island: 243–289. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Haggarty, A., 1991. Machrie Moor, Arran: recent excavations at two stone circles. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 121:51–94.Google Scholar
Hall, D.W., 1999. St Christopher's Church, Cupar. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1998:126.Google Scholar
Hall, D.W., 2000. St Nicholas Farm. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999:113.Google Scholar
Harkness, D.D., 1983. The extent of natural 14C deficiency in the coastal environment of the United Kingdom. PACT 8:351–364.Google Scholar
Harrington, P. and Pierpoint, S., 1980. Port Charlotte Chambered Cairn, Islay: an interim note. Glasgow Archaeological Journal 7:113–115.Google Scholar
Hedges, J.W., ed., 1983. Isbister: A Chambered Tomb in Orkney. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (British Series 115).Google Scholar
Hedges, R.E.M., P.B. Pettitt, B.R.C., and van Klinken, G.J., 1998. Radiocarbon dates from the Oxford AMS System: Archaeometry Datelist 26. Archaeometry 40(2):437–455.Google Scholar
Henshall, A.S., 1972. The Chambered Tombs of Scotland, Vol. 2. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Hey, G. and Bell, C., 1997. Excavations in 1996. South Midlands Archaeology CBA 27.Google Scholar
Hodder, I., 1990. The Domestication of Europe. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hulme, P.D. and Shirrifs, J., 1985. Pollen analysis of a radiocarbon-dated core from North Mains, Strathallan, Perthshire. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 115:105–113.Google Scholar
Iacumin, P., Bocherens, H., Delgado Huertas, A., Mariotti, A., and Longinelli, A., 1997. A stable isotope study of fossil mammal remains from the Paglicci cave, southern Italy. N and C as palaeoenvironmental indicators. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 148:349–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, H.F., 1998. St Adrian's Priory, Isle of May. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1997:114.Google Scholar
Kenney, J., 1993. The beginnings of agriculture in Great Britain: a critical assessment. Unpublished : University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Kinnes, I., 1985. Circumstance not context: the Neolithic of Scotland as seen from the outside. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 115:15–57.Google Scholar
Koch, E., 1998. Neolithic Bog Pots from Zealand, Møn, Lolland and Falster. København: Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab.Google Scholar
Legge, A.G., 1981. Aspects of cattle husbandry. In Mercer, R. (ed.), Farming Practice in British Prehistory: 169–181. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Legge, A.J., 1989. Milking the evidence: a reply to Entwistle and Grant. In Milles, A., Williams, D., and Gardner, N. (eds), The Beginnings of Agriculture: 217–242. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (International Series 496).Google Scholar
Levitan, B., 1990. The non-human vertebrate remains. In Saville, A. (ed.), Hazleton North: The Excavation of a Neolithic Long Cairn of the Cotswold-Severn Group: 199–213. London: Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England.Google Scholar
Lovell, N.C., Nelson, D.E. and Schwarcz, H.P., 1986. Carbon isotope ratios in palaeodiet: lack of age or sex effect. Archaeometry 28:51–55.Google Scholar
Lubell, D., Jackes, M., Schwarcz, H., Knyf, M., and Meiklejohn, C., 1994. The Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portugal: isotopic and dental evidence of diet. Journal of Archaeological Science 21:201–216.Google Scholar
McCormick, F., 1985–1986. Animal bones from prehistoric Irish burials. Journal of Irish Archaeology 3:37–48.Google Scholar
McCullagh, R., 1989. Excavations at Newton, Islay. Glasgow Archaeological Journal 15:23–51.Google Scholar
MacKie, E.W., 1964. New excavations on the Monamore Neolithic chambered tomb, Lambash, Isle of Arran in 1961. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 97:1–34.Google Scholar
Macklin, M.G., Bonsall, C., Davies, F.M. and Robinson, M.R., 2000. Human-environment interactions during the Holocene: new data and interpretations from the Oban area, Argyll, Scotland. The Holocene 10:109–121.Google Scholar
Marshall, D.N. and Taylor, I.D., 1977. The excavation of the Chambered Cairn at Glenvoidean, Isle of Bute. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 108:1–39.Google Scholar
Masters, L., 1973. The Lochhill Long Cairn. Antiquity 47:96–100.Google Scholar
Maynard, D., 1993. Neolithic pit at Carzield, Kirkton, Dumfriesshire. Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 68:25–32.Google Scholar
Mays, S.A., 1997. Carbon stable isotope ratios in Mediaeval and later human skeletons from northern England. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:561–567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meiklejohn, C. and Denston, C.B. 1987. The human skeletal material: inventory and initial interpretation. In Mellars, P.A. (ed.), Excavations on Oronsay. Prehistoric Human Ecology on a Small Island: 290–300. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Mithen, S., 2000. Mesolithic sedentism on Oronsay: chronological evidence from adjacent islands in the southern Hebrides. Antiquity 74:298–304.Google Scholar
Mithen, S.J. and Finlayson, B., 1991. Red deer hunters on Colonsay? The implications of Staosnaig for the interpretation of the Oronsay middens. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57:1–8.Google Scholar
Moloney, C., 2000. Wishart Avenue, Montrose. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999:111.Google Scholar
Monk, M.A., 1993. People and environment: in search of the farmers. In Shee Twohig, E. and Ronayne, M. (eds), Past Perceptions: The Prehistoric Archaeology of South-West Ireland: 35–52. Cork: Cork University Press.Google Scholar
Mulholland, H., 1970. The microlithic industries of the Tweed Valley. Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 47:81–110.Google Scholar
Murray, J., 2000. Peau noire, masques blancs: self-image in the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Scotland. Antiquity 74:779–785.Google Scholar
Murray, M. and Schoeninger, M.J., 1988. Diet, status, and complex social structure in Iron Age Central Europe: some contributions of bone chemistry. In Gibson, D. and Geselowitz, M. (eds), Tribe and Polity in Late Prehistoric Europe: 155–176. London: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Neighbour, T., 1999. Galson, Isle of Lewis. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1998:128.Google Scholar
Neighbour, T., 2001. Galson, Isle of Lewis. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 2000:127.Google Scholar
Noli, D. and Avery, G., 1988. Protein poisoning and coastal subsistence. Journal of Archaeological Science 15:395–401.Google Scholar
OXFORD ARCHAEOLOGICAL UNIT, 2000. White Horse Stone: a Neolithic longhouse. Current Archaeology 168:450–453.Google Scholar
Peterson, B.J. and Fry, B., 1987. Stable isotopes in ecosystem studies. Annual Reviews of Ecological Systems 18:293–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, B.J., Howarth, R.W. and Garritt, R.H., 1985. Multiple stable isotopes used to trace the flow of organic matter in estuarine food webs. Science 227:1361–1363.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollard, T., 1990. Down through the ages: a review of the Oban cave deposits. Scottish Archaeological Review 7:58–74.Google Scholar
Pollard, T., 1996. Time and tide: coastal environments, cosmology and ritual practice in early Prehistoric Scotland. In Pollard, T. and Morrison, A. (eds), The Early Prehistory of Scotland: 198–210. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Pollard, T., 2000. Marine mollusca. In Bradley, R. (ed.), The Good Stones. A New Investigation of the Clava Cairns: 151–154. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.Google Scholar
Price, T.D., Manzanilla, L. and Middleton, W.D., 2000. Immigration and the ancient city of Teotihuacan in Mexico: a study using strontium isotope ratios in human bone. Journal of Archaeological Science 27:903–913.Google Scholar
Pryor, F., 1998. Etton: Excavations at a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure near Maxey, Cambridgeshire, 1982–7. London: English Heritage.Google Scholar
Rees, A., 2000. Thornybank Cemetery. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1999:113–114.Google Scholar
Rees, A., 2001. Thornybank Cemetery. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 2000:124.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., McCormac, F.G., Moore, J., McCormick, F. and Murray, A.V., 2002. Marine radiocarbon reservoir corrections for the mid- to late Holocene in the eastern subpolar North Atlantic. The Holocene 12:129–136.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C., 1979. Investigations in Orkney. London: Thames and Hudson.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C. and Boyle, K., eds, 2000. Archaeogenetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Renfrew, C., Stenhouse, M.J., A.N. and Swrrsur, D.V.R., 1983. The radiocarbon determinations. In Hedges, J. W. (ed.), Isbister: A Chambered Tomb in Orkney: 61–71. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (British Series 115).Google Scholar
Rennie, E.B., 1984. Excavations at Ardnadam, Cowal, Argyll. Glasgow Journal of Archaeology 11:13–39.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P., 1998. Palaeodietary studies of European human populations using bone stable isotopes. Unpublished D.Phil.: University of Oxford. Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. and Hedges, R.E.M. 1999a. A Neolithic revolution? New evidence of diet in the British Neolithic. Antiquity 73:891–897.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. and Hedges, R.E.M., 1999b. Stable isotope evidence for similarities in the types of marine foods used by Late Mesolithic humans on the Atlantic coast of Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science 26:717–722.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. and Mellars, P., 1998. Stable isotopes and the seasonality of the Oronsay middens. Antiquity 72:178–184.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. and Schulting, R.J., 2000. Stable isotopes from human remains from the Severn estuary. In Bell, M., Caseldine, A., and Neumann, H. (eds), Prehistoric Intertidal Archaeology in the Welsh Severn Estuary: 70–71. York: Council for British Archaeology, CBA Research Report 120.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P. and Sheridan, J.A., 2000. New AMS dates on human bone from Mesolithic Oronsay. Antiquity 74:313–315.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P., Fuller, B.F. and Hedges, R.E.M., 2001. Sulphur isotopic variation in ancient bone collagen from Europe: implications for human palaeodiet, residence mobility, and modern pollutant studies. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 191:185–190.Google Scholar
Richards, M.P., Hedges, R.E.M., Jacobi, R., Current, A., and Stringer, C., 2000. Gough's Cave and Sun Hole Cave human stable isotope values indicate a high animal protein diet in the British upper Palaeolithic. Journal of Archaeological Science 27:1–3.Google Scholar
Rideout, J.S., 1997. Excavation of Neolithic enclosures at Cowie Road, Bannockburn, Stirling, 1984–5. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 127:29–68.Google Scholar
Ritchie, A., 1983. Excavation of a Neolithic farmstead at Knap of Howar, Papa Westray, Orkney. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 113:40–121.Google Scholar
Ritchie, A., 2001. Knap of Howar, Papa Westray. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 2000:124–125.Google Scholar
Ritchie, G., 1981. Excavations at Machrins, Colonsay. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 111:263–281.Google Scholar
Ritchie, G., 1997. Early settlement in Argyll. In Ritchie, G. (ed.), The Archaeology of Argyll: 38–66. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Robins, S.P. and New, S.A., 1997. Markers of bone turnover in relation to bone health. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 56:903–914.Google Scholar
Robinson, D., 1983. Possible Mesolithic activity in the west of Arran: evidence from peat deposits. Glasgow Archaeological Journal 10:1–6.Google Scholar
Rowley-Conwy, P., 1995. Making first farmers younger: the west European evidence. Current Anthropology 36:346–353.Google Scholar
Saville, A., 1999. An Corran, Staffin, Skye. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1998:126.Google Scholar
Saville, A., 2000. Orkney and Scotland before the Neolithic period. In Ritchie, A. (ed.), Neolithic Orkney in its European Context: 91–100. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeology.Google Scholar
Saville, A. and Hallén, Y., 1994. The ‘Obanian Iron Age’: human remains from the Oban cave sites, Argyll, Scotland. Antiquity 68:715–723.Google Scholar
Saville, A. and Miket, R., 1994. An Corran Rock-Shelter, Skye: a major new Mesolithic site. PAST 18:9–10.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, M.J. and DeNiro, M.J., 1984. Nitrogen and carbon isotopic composition of bone collagen from marine and terrestrial animals. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 48:625–639.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, M. and Moore, K., 1992. Stable bone isotope studies in archaeology. Journal of World Prehistory 6:247–296.Google Scholar
Schoeninger, M.J., Denrno, M.J. and Tauber, H., 1983. Stable nitrogen isotope ratios of bone collagen reflect marine and terrestrial components of prehistoric human diet. Science 220:1381–1383.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schulting, R.J., 1997. Farming for beginners: the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Scotland. Paper presented at the meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, Nashville, IN.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J., 1998a. Slighting the sea: the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in northwest Europe. Unpublished : Department of Archaeology, University of Reading.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J., 1998b. Slighting the sea: the transition to farming in northwest Europe. Documenta Praehistorica 25:203–218.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J., 1999. Nouvelles dates AMS à Téviec et Hoëdic (Quiberon, Morbihan). Rapport Préliminaire. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 96:203–207.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J., in prep. The times they are a changin’: 14C chronology and the beginning of the Neolithic.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J. and Richards, M.P., 2000. The use of stable isotopes in studies of subsistence and seasonality in the British Mesolithic. In Young, R. (ed.), Mesolithic Lifeways: Current Research from Britain and Ireland: 55–65. Leicester: University of Leicester Press.Google Scholar
Schulting, R.J. and Richards, M.P., 2001. Dating women and becoming farmers: new palaeodietary and AMS data from the Breton Mesolithic cemeteries of Téviec and Hoëdic. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 20:314–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulting, R.J. and Richards, M.P., forthcoming. Finding the coastal Mesolithic in southern Britain: AMS dates and stable isotope results on human remains from Caldey Island. Antiquity.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, H.P., 1991. Some theoretical aspects of isotope paleodiet studies. Journal of Archaeological Science 18:261–276.Google Scholar
Schwarcz, H.P. and Schoeninger, M.J., 1991. Stable isotope analyses in human nutritional ecology. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 34:283–321.Google Scholar
Scott, J.G., 1961. The excavation of the chambered cairn at Crarae, Loch Fyneside, Mid Argyll. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 94:1–27.Google Scholar
Scott, J.G., 1969. The Clyde cairns of Scotland. In Powell, T.G.E. (ed.), Megalithic Enquiries in the West of Britain: 175–222. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Sealy, J.C., Van Der Merwe, N.J., Lee Thorpe, J.A. and Lanham, J.L., 1987. Nitrogen isotopic ecology in Southern Africa: implications for environmental and dietary tracing. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 51:2707–2717.Google Scholar
Sharples, N.M. 1986. Radiocarbon dates from three chambered tombs at Loch Calder, Caithness. Scottish Archaeological Review 4(1):2–10.Google Scholar
Sharples, N.M. 1992. Aspects of regionalization in the Scottish Neolithic. In Sharples, N. and Sheridan, A. (eds), Vessels for the Ancestors: 322–331. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Sheridan, A., 2000. Achnacreebeag and its French connections: vive the ‘auld alliance’. In Henderson, J.C. (ed.), The Prehistory and Early History of Atlantic Europe: 1–15. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports (International Series 861).Google Scholar
Smith, M.A., 1996. The Role of Vegetation Dynamics and Human Activity in Landscape Changes through the Holocene in the Lairg Area, Sutherland, Scotland. : Royal Holloway College, University of London.Google Scholar
Stallibrass, S. and Huntley, J.P., 1996. Slim evidence: a review of the faunal and botanical data from the Neolithic of northern England. In Frodsham, P. (ed.), Neolithic Studies in No-Man's Land: 35–42. Northern Archaeology Volume 13–14, Journal of the Northumberland Archaeological Group.Google Scholar
Stenhouse, M.J. and Baxter, M.S., 1976. Glasgow University radiocarbon measurements VIII. Radiocarbon 18:161–171.Google Scholar
Stenhouse, M.J. and Baxter, M.S., 1979. The uptake of bomb 14C in humans. In Berger, R. and Suess, H.E. (eds), Radiocarbon Dating: 324–341. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M. and Braziunas, T.F., 1993. Modelling atmospheric 14C influences and 14C ages of marine samples to 10,000 BC. Radiocarbon 35:137–189.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., Van Der Plicht, J. and Spurk, M., 1998. INTCAL98 Radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000-0 Cal BE Radiocarbon 40:1041–1083.Google Scholar
Switsur, V.R. and Mellars, P.A., 1987. Radiocarbon dating of the shell midden sites. In Mellars, P.A. (ed.), Excavations on Oronsay: 139–149. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Switsur, V.R. and West, R.G., 1973. University of Cambridge natural radiocarbon measurements XI. Radiocarbon 15:156–164.Google Scholar
Tauber, H., 1981. 13C Evidence for dietary habits of prehistoric man in Denmark. Nature 292:332–333.Google Scholar
Tauber, H., 1986. Analysis of stable isotopes in prehistoric populations. Mitteilungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte 7:31–38.Google Scholar
Thomas, J., 1991. Rethinking the Neolithic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thomas, J., 1996. Neolithic houses in mainland Britain and Ireland - a sceptical view. In Darvill, T. and Thomas, J. (eds), Neolithic Houses in Europe and Beyond: 1–12. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Thomas, J., 1999. Understanding the Neolithic. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tieszen, L.L. and Fagre, T., 1993. Effect of diet quality and composition on the isotopic composition of respiratory CO2, bone collagen, bioapatite, and soft tissues. In Lambert, J.B. and Grupe, G. (eds), Prehistoric Human Bone: Archaeology at the Molecular Level: 121–155. New York: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Tipping, R., 1996. The Neolithic landscapes of the Cheviot Hills and hinterland: palaeoenvironmental evidence. In Frodsham, P. (ed.), Neolithic Studies in No-Man's Land: 17–33. Northern Archaeology Volume 13–14, Journal of the Northumberland Archaeological Group.Google Scholar
Turner, V, 1999. Gunstie Noss. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1998:127–128.Google Scholar
Vogel, J.C. and Van Der Merwe, N.J., 1977. Isotopic evidence for early maize cultivation in New York State. American Antiquity 42:238–242.Google Scholar
Warren, G.M., 2001. Towards a social archaeology of the Mesolithic in eastern Scotland: landscapes, contexts and experience. : Department of Archaeology, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Whittington, G. and Edwards, K.J., 1994. Palynology as a predictive tool in archaeology. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 124:55–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittle, A., 1996. Europe in the Neolithic: The Creation of New Worlds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Whittle, A., 1997. Moving on and moving around: Neolithic settlement mobility, In Topping, P. (ed.), Neolithic Landscapes: 15–22. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Woodman, P., in press. The exploitation of Ireland's coastal resources: a marginal resource through time? In Gonzalez-Morales, M.R. and Clarke, G.A. (eds), The Mesolithic of the Atlantic Façade.Google Scholar
Zilhão, J., 1993. The spread of agro-pastoral economies across Mediterranean Europe: a view from the far west. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 6:5–63.Google Scholar
Zilhão, J., 1997. Maritime pioneer colonization in the early Neolithic of the west Mediterranean. Testing the model against the evidence. Documenta Praehistorica 24:19–42.Google Scholar