Variable Use of Coastal Resources in Prehistoric and Historic Periods in Western Scotland

Abstract

ABSTRACTEvidence for coastal resource use, in the form of shell middens, is found in many parts of the world, including along Scotland's west coast. Scotland's seas are among the most biologically productive in the world, and their coastlines have attracted human habitation throughout the Holocene. An outstanding record of the human use of coastal resources throughout the prehistoric and historic periods has endured here through a fortunate combination of abundant caves and rockshelters, where much of the evidence is found, and a low modern population. Using a combination of radiocarbon-dating, the nature of the shell deposits, and the artifacts and ecofacts found within them, this article discusses the use of coastal and intertidal resources in the region and the way this changed through time.