Excavations on oronsay: Prehistoric human ecology on a small island

Developer-funded fieldwork in Scotland, 1990-2003

“…Few features have been identified at most sites. It is rare for organic or faunal evidence to be recovered from the lithic scatters, although a wealth of faunal evidence is preserved in the alkaline conditions of some of the shell middens, especially those on Oronsay (Mellars 1987). Because of the rarity of cut features, it is impossible to locate Mesolithic sites through most methods of archaeological prospection.…”

“…In some ways knowledge of the Scottish Mesolithic had been biased by two factors: the changes of sea level that mean that large areas of the original coastline are preserved, and the influence of early work on the Obanian 'culture' (Mellars 1987). Both combined to give the impression that Mesolithic activity was predominately coastal, as also seemed to be the case in Northern Ireland (Woodman 1978).…”

Environmental reconstruction and formation processes in a large Mesolithic lithic scatter at Nethermills of Crathes, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

“…In Scotland, work to date has been invested in coastal locations (Finlayson and Edwards, 2003;Fojut, 2006;Hardy and Wickham-Jones, 2002;Mellars, 1987;Mithen, 2000;Saville and Wickham-Jones, 2012;Warren, 2000Warren, , 2005Wickham-Jones, 1990). In eastern Scotland, however, amateur collections and early excavations (Paterson and Lacaille, 1936) drew attention to the exceptionally frequent and dense assemblages of Mesolithic flints along low terraces of the River Dee (Wickham-Jones et al, 2017).…”

Spatial Analysis to Distinguish occupation Floors at Tepe Meymanatabad, Central Iranian Plateau

“…Virtually all archaeological examples of analysis of spatial patterns have been based upon inspection and impressionistic interpretation (de Lumley et al 1969). The methods used for excavating sites with few defined features or clear contexts have evolved with time, however they have tended to have at the basis of any method a -vertical spit‖ approach (Mellars 1987). Sites are rarely excavated stratigraphically as, although phases of occupation may exist, apparent differences in context often prove to be geomorphologic in origin, or more commonly, clear differences in soil color or texture are not apparent.…”