The Late‐Quaternary vegetational history of Loch a'Bhogaidh, Rinns of Islay S.S.S.I., Scotland

Abstract

SUMMARYHolocene and partial Latcglacia\ age ptrtentage and CDD cent rat ion pollen diagrams are presented of two profiles from the Inner Hebridean site of Loch a'Bhogaidh, Islay. The Lateglacial deposits nriay extend back to Lateglacial Interstadial times and a relati\e lack oi Juniperus communis pollen is noted. The early Holocene deposits contain abundant Betula and Corylus avellana-iype pollen, followed by substantial amounts of pollen from other arboreal taxa, namely Pinus sylvestris, Ulmus., Quercus, Alnus glutinusa and Salix. There is pollen, charcoal and sedimentary evidence for possible Mesolithic age en\ironmenial impacts, and a hunter-gatherer presence on Islay may date from the lOth millennium BP. Major woodland clearance dates from middle Bronze Age times onwards (c. 3610 BP) and involved a mixed farming regime. The later Holocene records show that soil deterioration was occurring as heath and acid grassland taxa become prominent. These events may have resulted from land use pressures or climate change.

A 12 000-year record of environmental change in the Lomond Hills, Fife, Scotland: Vegetational and climatic variability

“…3, 5-8. The existence of charcoal in Late-glacial deposits has been remarked upon (Kolstrup 1992;Edwards and Berridge 1994) and the charcoal may, if not secondarily derived, reflect distant burning under dry tundra-like conditions. These dates have been disregarded in producing a time-depth curve ( Fig.…”

Firewood, food and human niche construction: the potential role of Mesolithic hunter–gatherers in actively structuring Scotland's woodlands

“…P/D is used to indicate species which are dominant in some areas/periods of the zone, but not all areas/periods of the zone, and P/✝ and */✝ are used to indicate species which are present in some areas of the zone, but in other areas the pollen may derive from long distance transport or to indicate a difference of opinion on the native status of particular species by different authors. Woodland zone 1. local pollen diagrams: Warren Field, North-East Scotland (Murray et al, 2009:16e20), Loch Cholla, Oronsay (Andrews et al, 1987), Loch a' Bhogaidh, Islay (Edwards and Berridge, 1994), and Newton, Islay (McCullagh, 1989a); regional pollen diagrams: Braeroddach Loch, North-East Scotland (Edwards, 1979) and Loch of Park, North-East Scotland (Vasari and Vasari, 1968;Gunson, 1975), Loch Cill an Aonghais, Argyll (Birks, 1993), Loch Meodal, Loch Cleat, and Loch Ashik, Skye (Birks and Williams, 1983). Woodland zone 2. regional pollen diagrams: Black Loch, Fife (Whittington et al, 1991), Round Loch of Glenhead, Galloway (Jones et al, 1989), Loch Dungeon (Birks, 1972) Galloway, and Dubh Lochan (Stewart et al, 1984) and Loch Lomond (Dickson et al, 1978), Stirling/West Dunbartonshire.…”

Mesolithic and later sites around the Inner Sound, Scotland the work of the Scotland's First Settlers project 1998-2004

“…However, there is little to indicate an early beginning to the Neolithic in the literature for the west of Scotland. Sheridan (2000) suggests that the advent of farming may have been an intrusive event that took place at an early date, based on the pottery comparisons from apparently early levels at the chambered tomb at Achnacreebeag, Argyll (Ritchie 1970), but this interpretation has been questioned by others (Thomas 2004), and it has been suggested that the Mesolithic continued until c5,000 BP, despite the possible detection of cereal pollen on Islay as early as 5,470 BP (Edwards & Berridge 1994).…”

“…This time span encompasses the conventional period of the Mesolithic in Scottish archaeology, and the intention is to provide an environmental context to the Mesolithic settlement of this region and to assess the evidence for huntergatherer impacts on the landscape. Pollen and microscopic charcoal analyses are the principal tools used to achieve these aims and the work follows a similar design to that pursued elsewhere in the Inner Hebrides (Hirons & Edwards 1990;Edwards & Berridge 1994;Edwards 2000b;Sugden & Edwards 2000).…”