Marine mollusc exploitation in the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland) throughout prehistory

The archaeological remains of marine molluscs represent a hugely underutilised source of information about prehistoric societies. Within Scotland, studies of these remains are patchy at best throughout prehistory, with the Northern Isles being mostly ignored outside of the Mesolithic period. This research would use traditional morphological and metrical analyses to investigate marine molluscs as food, as bait, as tools, as decorative and symbolic objects, and as a means to look at changing attitudes towards the sea from the earliest evidence of human occupation through to the late Iron Age.