Discovery of 11,000 pieces of stone tool illuminate Scotland’s early people
More than 11,000 fragments of stone tools have been discovered in the search for evidence of the hunter gatherers who once roamed Scotland around 14,000 years ago.
A team of community archaeologists,who formed the group Mesolithic Deeside given their passion for all things related to these early inhabitants, worked alongside professionals to make the finds. A total of 42 fields were investigated along the Dee Valley in Aberdeenshire, from which more than 11,000 lithics were recovered.
The work has been credited with creating an “abundant” record of the hunter gatherers who lived close to the river dee, which stretches from the cairng or ms to Aberdeen.
Archaeologist caroline wick ham- jones, in her final report on the project, which is published by Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, said small early prehistoric communities were living in the Dee Valley from around 13th millennium BC, a time of rapid climate change as the last ice age started to abate.
The Mesolithic Deeside project, along with other existing archaeological evidence, made it possible to build a strong picture of life along the Dee for the families over time.
In her report, Ms Wickhamjones said; “The work of Mesolithic Deeside reveals an extensive archaeological record that comprises multiple traces of diverse activity throughout this landscape. This record is not and can never be complete, but in comparison with many other areas it is abundant.
“The prehistoric population of Mesolithic Deeside was not scattered, nor isolated. this part of the country was well able to support a thriving population over long periods of time.”
Early settlers came to the Dee during the Late Upper Palaeolithic period, when temperatures rose and the open landscape was dotted with some woodland.
Britain was then still connected to the continent by Doggerland, with evidence suggesting people travelled long distances in the course of an annual round.
They possessed detailed understanding of the landscape within which they lived, from which they derived all the resources necessary for survival, the report said.
Ms Wickham-jones said: “Mammals such as reindeer are likely to have provided an important resource, and groups may have followed them and other species as they moved across the landscape.”