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Deforestation and human agency in the North Atlantic region : archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Western Isles of Scotland

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Date
02/10/2018
Author
Bishop, Rosie R.
Church, Mike J.
Lawson, Ian T.
Roucoux, Katherine H.
O'Brien, Charlotte
Ranner, Helen
Heald, Andrew J.
Flitcroft, Catherine E.
Keywords
Archaeobotany
Deforestation
Neolithic
North Atlantic islands
Palynology
Radiocarbon dating
Western Isles of Scotland
CC Archaeology
GE Environmental Sciences
Archaeology
NDAS
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Abstract
This paper considers the timing and mechanisms of deforestation in the Western Isles of Scotland, focusing in particular on the landscape around the Calanais stone circles, one of the best preserved late Neolithic/early Bronze Age monumental landscapes in north-west Europe. We present new archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from a soil and peat sequence at the site of Aird Calanais, which spans the main period of use of the Calanais circles. We then draw on a new synthesis of archaeobotanical and palynological evidence from across the Western Isles and a review of comparable data from the wider North Atlantic zone, before assessing the role of early farming communities in clearing the wooded landscapes of the region. Pollen and radiocarbon dating at the site of Aird Calanais reveal that a layer of birch branches, dating to the late Neolithic (2912-2881 cal bc), was contemporaneous with a decline in woodland at the site, as well as with the major phase of Neolithic activity at the Calanais stone circle complex. However, our synthesis of the pollen and plant macrofossil evidence from across the Western Isles suggests that the picture across these islands was altogether more complex: woodlands declined both before, as well as during, the Neolithic and deciduous woodlands remained sufficiently abundant for Neolithic fuel procurement. Finally, we consider the implications of the results for understanding the interactions between first farmers and woodlands in the wider North Atlantic region.
Citation
Bishop , R R , Church , M J , Lawson , I T , Roucoux , K H , O'Brien , C , Ranner , H , Heald , A J & Flitcroft , C E 2018 , ' Deforestation and human agency in the North Atlantic region : archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence from the Western Isles of Scotland ' , Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , vol. First View . https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2018.8
Publication
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1017/ppr.2018.8
ISSN
0079-497X
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 2018. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Description
The work was supported by Historic Environment Scotland (Grant Title: ‘Final publication and archiving of Uig Landscape Project’; PI: MJC), Durham University and the University of Edinburgh.
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  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/16656

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