Holocene evolution of a lowland Scottish landscape: Kirkpatrick Fleming. Part II, regional vegetation and land-use change

Abstract

In this second of three papers on the environmental changes that have affected a lowland Scottish landscape during the Holocene, pollen and microscopic charcoal counts, supported by radiocarbon dates, form the basis for interpreting vegetation changes that characterized 'dryland' soils around the raised bog of Burnfoothill Moss, on the Solway Firth. The migration of Corylus, and later of Quercus and Ulmus, appear to have been later than at nearby sites, but radiocarbon dates for these events are thought to be in error through lowered rates of peat accumulation. Establishment of Alnus coincided with anthropogenic woodland disturbance at around 7800 cal. BP, and supports arguments that imply disturbance prior to Alnus colonization. Two Ulmus declines are recorded. The first at c. 4830 cal. BP appears to have been exceedingly abrupt, and specific to elm, without evidence for anthropogenic interference. The second occurred some 250 years later, and is associated with agricultural activity. A phase of partial abandonment is recorded in the late Neolithic. The first major clearance is dated to the very latest prehistoric or to the earliest Romano-British period, and a subsequent resurgence of agricultural activity at c. 1350 cal. BP led to a fully utilized landscape by 1000 cal. BP.