Abstract
Over the past few decades the potential role of Mesolithic hunter–gatherers in actively constructing their own niches, through the management of wild plants, has frequently been discussed. It is probable that Mesolithic hunter–gatherers systematically exploited specific woodland resources for food and fuel and influenced the ‘natural’ abundance or distribution of particular species within Mesolithic environments. Though there has been considerable discussion of the pollen evidence for potential small-scale human-woodland manipulation in Mesolithic Scotland, the archaeobotanical evidence for anthropogenic firewood and food selection has not been discussed in this context. This paper assesses the evidence for the active role of Mesolithic hunter–gatherer communities in systematically exploiting and managing woodlands for food and fuel in Scotland. While taphonomic factors may have impacted on the frequency of specific species in archaeobotanical assemblages, it is suggested that hunter–gatherers in Mesolithic Scotland were systematically using woodland plants, and in particular hazel and oak, for food and fuel. It is argued that the pollen evidence for woodland management is equivocal, but hints at the role of hunter–gatherers in shaping the structure of their environments, through the maintenance or creation of woodland clearings for settlement or as part of vegetation management strategies. It is proposed that Mesolithic hunter–gatherers may have actively contributed to niche construction and that the systematic use of hazel and oak as a fuel may reflect the deliberate pruning of hazel trees to increase nut-yields and the inadvertent – or perhaps deliberate – coppicing of hazel and oak during greenwood collection.
Highlights
The nature of humaneenvironment interaction in Mesolithic Europe is a contentious area of debate
The small number of sites in this zone is a reflection of the lower level of modern development in this region compared to other areas of Scotland, reducing the likelihood of discovery, together with the fact that in situ Mesolithic archaeology has only been discovered in the Northern and Western Isles in the last decade
The pollen evidence for woodland management is equivocal, but it hints at the role of hunteregatherers in deliberately shaping the structure of their environments
Summary
The nature of humaneenvironment interaction in Mesolithic Europe is a contentious area of debate. Bishop et al / Quaternary Science Reviews 108 (2015) 51e75 necessarily leading to the agricultural production of these resources (Rowley-Conwy, 2001:58e59; Rowley-Conwy and Layton, 2011:854) Within this context, it has been argued that Mesolithic hunteregatherers may have played an active role in shaping woodland ecodynamics through the deliberate manipulation of the structure of plant communities to increase the production of economically important plants and to attract desirable animals for hunting (Smith, 1970:82; Mellars, 1976; Simmons et al, 1981:103; Simmons and Innes, 1987; Zvelebil, 1994; Simmons, 1996).
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