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Seeds, fruits and nuts in the Scottish Mesolithic

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

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Authors

RR Bishop



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
Publisher Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 143
Pages 9-72
Publisher URL http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archives/view/psas/contents.cfm?vol=143&CFID=7702&CFTOKEN=7196F531-8B7C-4890-8C914BB17721A57F

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