People, Animals, Landscapes and Environments of Late Glacial Scotland (PALaEoScot)

Lead Research Organisation: University of Aberdeen
Department Name: Archaeology

Abstract

Despite a long-standing fascination with the 'Antiquity of Man', the evidence for human life in Ice Age Scotland is sparse and under researched. A low-density of archaeological finds has been compounded by a research tradition that has persistently excluded the possibility of human settlement at the extreme edge of north-west Europe prior to the start of the Holocene (c.11,700 yrs ago). This is at odds with palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental data and, indeed, the recent discovery of unequivocal Late Upper Palaeolithic sites has provided indisputable evidence for human activity in Late Pleistocene Scotland. Now, with the perceptual barrier of more than a century lifted, the combined study of Scotland's Late Glacial palaeoenvironments and landscapes, and the humans and animals who recolonised those changing worlds, offers vast and unrealised potential: to better understand pioneer populations, explore behavioural flexibility and resilience, and illuminate cultural and biological connections across the now-submerged areas of northern Europe. However, in order to understand the human past where little conventional archaeological evidence belies an undoubted human presence, new approaches are required. PALaEoScot will examine the history of research into Scotland's deeper past and unearth new archaeological evidence for the nature of human activity, society and culture in the Late Pleistocene. Employing a unique archaeo-ecological approach centred on the animals that shared and shaped the human past, we will employ cutting-edge biomolecular and isotopic analyses to reconstruct Scotland's Late Pleistocene living landscapes and - using computational modelling to integrate palaeo -environmental, -ecological and archaeological data - will explore the constraints and potentials of contemporary human dispersals. PALaEoScot will illuminate human and animal life in north-west Europe at the end of the Last Ice Age and create new ways of approaching low visibility archaeology.

Publications

10 25 50
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Kitchener A (2024) The bears of Scotland in Annales Zoologici Fennici

 
Description Collaboration with Astrid Nyland, University of Stavanger 
Organisation University of Stavanger
Country Norway 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The PL has agreed to undertake collagen extractions on samples from an early Holocene Scottish site (Tarradale), and to analyses subsequent isotope data/ZooMS data
Collaborator Contribution The partner has granted sampling permissions, and paid for the generation of ZooMS and isotope data via commercial/collaborative analytical services (actual cost £750), and will provide contextual information (all of which will help to contextualise PALaEoScot's own terminal Late Pleistocene data).
Impact To date, there are no published outcomes but isotope data have been generated and ZooMS analyses (proteomics) are ongoing.
Start Year 2024
 
Description Collaboration with Dr Andrew Kitchener, National Museums Scotland 
Organisation National Museums Scotland
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The project has generated new radiocarbon dates from faunal remains from Late Pleistocene Scotland focused and calibrated those new radiocarbon dates using OxCal. Project research Dr Alicia Sanz-Royo has been granted an honorary position at NMS and is studying the fauna from the Assynt bone caves in depth during an extended research visit (2025). This collaboration is a continuation of a collaboration that began with a previous project (in 2022) and is progressing now to a formal research agreement.
Collaborator Contribution Dr Andrew Kitchener, Principal Curator of Vertebrates at National Museums Scotland (NMS), supported Professor Kate Britton's research visit to NMS, granted permission for sampling, and contributed to the contextualisation of the samples/sites from which they originate. Dr Kitchener and his team are also supporting Dr Sanz-Royo on her research on the faunal from the Assynt bone caves.
Impact https://doi.org/10.5735/086.061.0124
Start Year 2023
 
Description Press surrounding the Bears of Scotland (2024) paper 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Media (as a channel to the public)
Results and Impact The release of the Bears of Scotland paper triggered a lot of media interest, particularly surrounding the speculation that polar bears may have once lived in Scotland prior to the last ice age. This was covered on BBC radio in Scotland (drivetime) and on regional BBC radio in England, as well as on the BBC news website, and in other media outlets. This led to further requests for comments/engagement.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
 
Description Public talk - Cults Hillwalking Club 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Approximately 70 people attended an invited talk from Cults Hillwalking Group who wished to learn about this research. The presentation sparked discussion and questions afterwards both during formal questions and in an informal tea/coffee mixer after the talk.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025