The aim of the PhD project is to consider the role and importance of different plant food and fuel resources in hunter-gatherer subsistence in Mesolithic Scotland. The project will specifically focus on the plant remains from Rubha Port an t-Seilich, Islay. This is a key site for understanding hunter-gatherer subsistence. These have been recovered from excavations in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The site spans the whole of the Mesolithic period in Scotland (8500-3900 BC), providing a unique opportunity to examine chronological changes in plant subsistence and human-environment interactions from the earliest settlement period to the transition to agriculture. Previous research has shown that plants were key resources for hunter-gatherers, but their significance has been underestimated in studies of Mesolithic subsistence in Europe. Moreover, analyses of charcoal provide the opportunity to examine fuel wood selection practices and, when compared to local pollen evidence, the nature of human interactions, potential management and impact on “natural” woodlands.
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