Recession or Resilience: Evidence for Neolithic Agriculture in Updated Palaeoenvironmental Reconstructions from Lairg, Sutherland

A consistent theme in British prehistoric studies is a perceived lack of evidence for settlement and agriculture in the Neolithic (c.4000 cal BC – 2500 cal BC), which then increases in prevalence during the Bronze Age. This lack of evidence for Neolithic settlement and farming has been linked to a collapse of agriculture associated with population decline and climatic deterioration from c.3600 cal BC onwards, with population recovery and the resumption of widespread agriculture in the later 3rd millennium cal BC. Updated palaeoenvironmental reconstructions from Lairg, Sutherland, incorporating a high-resolution Bayesian chronology based on 14C dates from 20 samples indicate that mixed agriculture (including cereal cultivation) continued in this area during the proposed Middle – Late Neolithic agricultural recession described above. We suggest that an existing reliance on barley, which is more tolerant of cooler, wetter conditions than other cereals, and the use of well-drained sites within the landscape allowed cereal cultivation to continue in the face of climatic deterioration. We also suggest that a lack of high-resolution chronologies for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and a reliance on woodland clearance as a proxy for agriculture could potentially obscure pollen evidence for Middle and Late Neolithic farming. Issues of chronological precision in legacy datasets are addressed.