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| At the peak of the last glaciation the entire land surface of Scotland was covered in ice, estimates for the eastern Grampian area putting the depth of the ice at 1km (0.6 miles) thick. The Ice Age began approximately 25,000 years ago and reached its peak around 18,000 years ago. Nothing would have lived in Scotland during this time and the glaciers have destroyed any evidence that may have existed of humans living in Scotland prior to the Weichselian glaciation, as the last Ice Age is known. From 13,000 BC temperatures began to rise and the glaciers began to retreat although it took another 3,000 years before the ice completely left Scotland. Sea levels rose as the ice melted and the seas warmed up. Soils began to develop which in turn brought about the reintroduction of vegetation and animals. Some of the first animals to be seen on the arctic like environment were elk, reindeer and giant fallow deer.
Several sites can claim to be the earliest but in 2001 radiocarbon dating of carbonised hazelnut fragments from Cramond, near Edinburgh, showed Cramond to be the earliest Mesolithic site in Scotland, dating back to between 8500 and 8250 BC (calibrated). Previously many of the known Mesolithic sites in Scotland came from the islands of the west coast such as Rum, Islay, Jura, Arran and Ulva, as well as on the west coast itself at Oban. Later sites have been found elsewhere, such as Inverness where a date of 5800 BC was obtained at a settlement. Although it is not known for sure where the early peoples of Scotland would have come from it is fairly certain that they would have come from the south as it is known that humans had been living in England for over 3,000 years before the camp at Cramond was inhabited. Elsewhere in Europe this earlier period is known as the Palaeolithic but there is no evidence for it in Scotland where there are no surviving Palaeolithic stone tools, but there are many examples of microliths - the defining tool type of the Mesolithic. Microliths are small stone tools, generally in the form of blades, which could be fitted into handles to form composite tools. Many different shapes were produced and they could be used in a variety of situations. Despite the fact that microlith types from England can be found in Scotland they are usually discovered with the smaller, more distinctive, Scottish types indicating that, at our present level of knowledge, there is no definitive evidence that settlers from England migrated to Scotland (Wickham-Jones 1994, 47-50). Resemblances exist between Irish tool types and those of the Scottish islands and it would be surprising if there was not some contact from the west but, again, clear evidence is lacking.
At around 6000 BC the land bridge between the British Isles and the European mainland was permanently broken and this must have reduced contact between the peoples on both sides of what became the English Channel although finds of a tool type known as the tanged point, which is known from north Germany to Scandinavia and Scotland, strongly suggests movements of people over a wide area prior to this.
Although the most dramatic environmental changes had already occurred many more subtle changes to the Scottish environment continued throughout the Mesolithic period. Sea levels were in constant flux; firstly they rose as glacial melt water poured into the oceans then the land rose as it recovered as the vast weight of the glaciers was removed. Approximately 7000 years ago the sea level around Scotland was 10m (33ft) higher than today's level and this explains the numerous raised beaches found around the Scottish coast. Various techniques, including oxygen isotope analysis, have been used to determine the climatic conditions during the Mesolithic and these analyses have shown that by 6500 BC average temperatures were a little higher than they are today. Rainfall was also higher, up to 10 per cent more, and it seems that storms would have been more common. Following a period when Scotland's vegetation would have been sparse, heathland with some arctic herbs, willow and juniper scrub, trees then began to colonise, birch and hazel being amongst the first with elm, oak and pine following (Edwards, Kevin J. & Ralston, Ian 1984, 16). Scotland was not completely forested, however, pollen analysis has shown that there were also more open areas as well as bogs and moor. Plants known to have lived in Scotland at this time include bog myrtle, mugwort, sorrel, ferns and plantain. The acid soils of Scotland do not preserve animal bones as well as pollen but along with the animals already mentioned beaver, fox, wild boar, otter and hare were all present along with birds and fish. |
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| History Books on the Mesolithic:
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