On Monday 14th January, 22 members and friends of Lanark and District Archaeological Society meet in Lanark Library for the first lecture of 2002. Our speaker was Graeme Warren who described the highlights of his recent Doctoral research into the archaeology of the Mesolithic Period in eastern Scotland. Graeme began by explaining that the Mesolithic period was the time after the last Ice Age when people still lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Although this is popularly view as an impoverished existence Graeme made clear that there was actually very little evidence to base this on. This belief is probably due more to the affinity that we feel in the modern age to the settled agricultural lifestyle of the Neolithic time, than to any archaeological evidence. Indeed this was reflected in many of the contemporary reconstruction drawings that illustrated the lecture. While the Mesolithic inhabitants were depicted with beards and shapeless clothes the Neolithic inhabitants wore trousers and were clean shaven.
In Scotland the Mesolithic period began around 9000BC and ended with the widespread domestication of crops and animals around 4000BC. There is local evidence of early Mesolithic inhabitation at the Daer reservoir. Graeme explained that in this period the landscape was very different to that of today. After the Ice Age the land would be barren and then trees would begin to grow. Birch would be the first tree to widely establish and eventually oak and pine forests were formed.
It was believe that most Mesolithic activity in Scotland was in the west of the Country. However, this is because the terrain of the West has not been subject to intensive agriculture and so the archaeological evidence has been better preserved. In the east of Scotland there have been a large number if surface finds relating to Mesolithic habitation.
The evidence that survives of the Mesolithic period is mainly of tools and waste. Tools were made of any napable stone including chert, flint, quartz and pitchstone. These were formed into blades and, most characteristically of the period; microlithes. Graeme also referred to the number of shaped stones that he had examined which are popularly referred to as "net sinkers". However, he stressed that this was a contemporary view on what they were used for and like many of the artefacts of the period their true use might never be known. It is illustrative of the way that artefacts from this period were regarded that while historical reports mention "sacks full" of these items being found there are now only 140 of them in public and private collections in the whole of Scotland.
Evidence from midden sites gives a wealth of environmental information on the Mesolithic period. It can be established that a large range of seafood, birds mammals and plants were eaten. There was also the domestication of one animal - the dog, but Graeme pointed out that these would be wolf-like animals and not the delicate creatures often depicted.
Graeme explained that field-walking is the key technique of establishing Mesolithic sites. These can then be further investigated by excavation, usually through survey trenches. The lecture concluded by illustrating the various sites that had been discovered along the Tweed valley.