Human-environment interactions during the Holocene: new data and interpretations from the Oban area, Argyll, Scotland

Abstract

Investigations of the archaeological, geochemical, microscopic charcoal and palynological records from five localities in the Oban area, along an altitudinal transect from coast to upland, have provided new information on human-environment interactions during the Holocene. Some of the results are at variance with previous interpretations of Mesolithic human impacts and the timing of the transition to farming in Atlantic Scotland. High charcoal values and the occurrence of cereal-type pollen grains, which have commonly been used to infer human activity during the Mesolithic, appear in the Oban area at least to be related to climate change. However, the greater frequency of woodland-decline episodes in inland and upland areas prior to 5000 BP is more easily explained in terms of human impact. Archaeological and palynological evidence indicates that the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in the Oban area occurred at c. 5000 BP and, on evidence from elsewhere in northern Britain, coincided with a marked shift to drier climatic conditions. Up until c. 1000 BP agricultural communities appear to have had comparatively little impact on the environment. Thereafter, there was rapid and permanent deforestation possibly linked to the development of a distinctive land-use strategy and settlement pattern that survived until the nineteenth century ad.

Human skin pigmentation, migration and disease susceptibility

“…Because of Scotland's extremely low UVB conditions (especially in the cloudy west), maximally depigmented skin alone was insufficient to ensure adequate amounts of vitamin D throughout the year (figure 1). Late Pleistocene and Holocene inhabitants of Scotland survived primarily in coastal settings where they pursued lifestyles emphasizing the gathering and hunting of vitamin D 3 -rich foods [77,78]. Changes in human subsistence and diet began with the introduction of agriculture and grazing about 5000 yr BP, and have accelerated greatly under the influences of industrialization and urbanization in the last 200 years.…”

Separating climatic and possible human impacts in the early Holocene: biotic response around the time of the 8200 cal. yr BP event

“…Lithic artefacts of Mesolithic age are known from the island of Ulva (Fig. 1), which is visible from the Ross of Mull (Bonsall et al, 1991), as well as from elsewhere in the Inner Hebrides and adjacent coastal areas (Edwards and Mithen, 1995;Macklin et al, 2000). Thirdly, it may be the case that both explanations apply collectively and that hunter-gatherer activity was taking place during a climatic revertence.…”

Linking past cultural developments to palaeoenvironmental changes in Estonia

“…(c. 3900-3200, c. 2700-2400 and c. 2100-1800 14 C B.P., respectively), closely coincide with periods of remarkably cooler and wetter conditions inferred from bog stratigraphies and elsewhere (Macklin et al 2000). Climate deteriorations in this marginal area for cereal cultivation might not have caused the region to be periodically abandoned or depopulated, but rather have caused shifts in farming practices (Macklin et al 2000).…”

“…It first occurs in the period of warm and dry climate in Northern Europe, as in the British Isles and Southern Scandinavia (Macklin et al 2000;Bonsall et al 2002). The approximate beginning of Fig.…”

“…A positive correlation and synchronous events have been found to exist between human impact/land-use and climate change in Northwest Europe (Van Geel and Berglund 2000;Berglund 2003). Some authors see the agricultural developments in the British Isles and Southern Scandinavia around c. 6,000-5,700 years ago, during the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition, as a response to changes in climate and its interactions with soil resources, falling into phase with a dry continental climate (Macklin et al 2000;Bonsall et al 2002). Increases in charcoal frequencies in north-west Scotland at c. 6400, 5900 and 4260 cal B.P.…”