Seeds, fruits and nuts in the Scottish Mesolithic

Bishop, RR; Church, MJ; Rowley-Conwy, PA

Abstract

Over the past few decades, the potential importance of plants within European Mesolithic economies has frequently been discussed, but there has been little systematic consideration of the archaeobotanical evidence for Mesolithic plant consumption in Scotland. This paper assesses the use of plants in the Scottish Mesolithic economy using the archaeobotanical evidence from 48 sites. It is argued that plants were systematically, and, in some cases, intensively exploited in Mesolithic Scotland. Though plant remains were extremely sparse at most sites, it is suggested that uneven archaeological sampling and taphonomic factors, together with the relatively short duration of occupation of many sites, may be responsible for the restricted range and frequency of edible taxa in most assemblages.

Citation

Bishop, R., Church, M., & Rowley-Conwy, P. (2014). Seeds, fruits and nuts in the Scottish Mesolithic. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 143, 9-72

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 9, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Nov 30, 2014
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Nov 20, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 14, 2015
• Journal: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
• Print ISSN: 0081-1564
• Electronic ISSN: 2056-743X
• Publisher: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 143
• Pages: 9-72
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1474779
• Publisher URL: http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/psas/contents.cfm?vol=143&CFID=7702&CFTOKEN=7196F531-8B7C-4890-8C914BB17721A57F