The Archaeology of Britain: An introduction from ... - waughfamily.ca

Hunter-gatherers of the Mesolithic
• 53 •
of foliage for wild game (Simmons and Innes 1996). Another form of animal management may
have been the transport of some species to offshore islands.
Shell middens and coastal exploitation
The coastal zone is likely to have been the most productive part of Britain during the Mesolithic.
It is not surprising that the largest sites, including Culverwell, are located there. Access to woodland
with its large game, as well as marine mammals and fish and the rich resources of the seashore,
including crustaceans, seaweeds and shellfish, would have been simple.
The clearest picture of coastal exploitation comes from western Scotland, notably the middens
on Oronsay. Others are known from caves and open sites around Oban bay (Argyll), and on
other islands (e.g. Ulva Cave off Mull). Such middens typically reveal an immense diversity of
species. Red deer and otter, over 30 types of birds, crabs, seals, shellfish and fish are attested on
Oronsay. Over 90 per cent of the fish bones come from saithe and testify to marine fishing,
although hooks and nets are absent. Limpets dominate the molluscan remains, but periwinkle
and dogwhelk are well represented.
Otoliths (ear bones) of fish indicate the season of occupation. As there is a strong correlation
between the size of a fish and these bones, and as young saithe grow rapidly, the size distributions
of otoliths are indicative of the season(s) of the catches—assuming that spawning occurred at
the same time as today. On Oronsay, different middens had distinctive otolith size distributions,
implying that they accumulated in different seasons, with summer occupation at Cnoc Sligeach,
for instance, while the Priory midden was used from the start of winter until early spring. In fact,
all seasons are represented in this set of middens, leading some to suggest that people lived on
Oronsay all year round. This seems unlikely in light of its size; a more realistic interpretation is
that whenever foragers visited, they chose the optimum site with regard to prevailing winds, tides
and the specific resources then available.
Molluscan remains can provide detailed information about foraging patterns. The shape of
limpet shells is related to the position on the shore where this mollusc is found: those from its
lowest part have relatively flat shells, while those higher up are progressively more conical. Limpets
in the Ulva Cave midden are quite flat, indicating that Mesolithic foragers had searched the
lowest, and probably most productive, part of the shore (Russell et al. in Fischer 1995). Although
the shellfish at Ulva were dominated by the three species noted on Oronsay, 19 other species,
including tiny ones, were represented. One, the blue-rayed limpet (Helicon pellucidum), less than 10
mm in size, is an unlikely foodstuff. This species lives on Laminaria spp. (the seaweed kelp, regularly
harvested in modern times). It is likely that the Mesolithic foragers were also collecting kelp,
perhaps as food.
The use of plants
A contentious aspect of Mesolithic subsistence concerns the importance of plant foods. Clarke
(1976) argued that early Postglacial environments would have been rich in plant foods, which are
likely to have made a major contribution to diet. Evidence to support this assertion has slowly
been accumulating for the whole of Europe (Zvelebil 1994).
Plant remains survive only if normal processes of decay are halted, which in Britain would
mean a totally waterlogged site, the like of which remains absent. Charring also preserves plant
foods, although the resulting assemblage is biased: charring depends on the proximity of fire, and
many plant foods were probably eaten raw. Even when plant remains are preserved, their recovery
from sediments requires sieving through very fine-grained mesh or flotation methods that many
early, and some recent, excavations have neglected to employ. In consequence, the limited amounts
of plant foods known from Mesolithic sites do not reflect their significance in the diet. Raspberry