Deforestation and Human Agency in the North Atlantic Region: Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Evidence from the Western Isles of Scotland

Rosie R Bishop,Andrew J Heald,Ian T Lawson,Mike J Church,Charlotte O’Brien,Helen Ranner,Catherine E Flitcroft,Katherine H Roucoux

doi:10.1017/ppr.2018.8

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 calbc), 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.

Highlights

The timing and mechanisms of the development of today’s treeless landscapes in the North Atlantic islands have important implications for establishing the nature of human–woodland interaction in landscapes of settlement (Dugmore et al 2005; Church et al 2007a)
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
The results show that the first evidence for woodland decline occurred in the 7th–6th millennium cal BC and may have been linked to Mesolithic anthropogenic activities, but the subsequent woodland regeneration suggests this was unrelated to the longterm woodland decline

Summary

METHODOLOGY

Field methods In 1997, Mr Simon Fraser of Calanais village discovered a possible anthropogenic feature within a coastal peat bank on the edge of East Loch Roag, at Aird Calanais, less than 1 km from the main Calanais I. Two single-entity plant macrofossils from key archaeological contexts and three 1 cm bulk peat samples from the column sample were submitted for AMS radiocarbon dating at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (Table 1). This is the earliest organic soil horizon at the site: a very dark-grey clayey-silt containing occasional charcoal flecks [6] The pollen from this layer (Figs 5 & 6) was poorly preserved, was relatively poor in arboreal pollen (birch: Betula sp., hazel-type: Corylus-type) and rich in Heather (Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull), meadowsweets (Filipendula sp.), and fern spores that are typical in early Holocene lake sediment records from the Western Isles (eg, Fossitt 1996). The arboreal pollen percentages in the uppermost sample from this context are consistent with the possibility that the charcoal and hazelnuts originated in the woodlands around the site The hearth was of rough construction and could have been made rapidly using

BULK SAMPLE RESULTS

42 South Uist

CONCLUSIONS