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Agriculture in prehistoric Scotland
Agriculture in prehistoric Scotland includes all forms of farm production in the modern boundaries of Scotland before the beginning of the early historic era. Scotland has between a fifth and a sixth of the arable or good pastoral land of England and Wales, mostly in the south and east. Heavy rainfall encouraged the spread of acidic blanket peat bog, which with wind and salt spray, made most of the western islands treeless. Hills, mountains, quicksands and marshes made internal communication and agriculture difficult.
In the Neolithic period, from around 6,000 years ago, there is evidence of permanent settlements and farming. The two main sources of food were grain and cow's milk. In the early Bronze Age, arable land spread at the expense of forest, but towards the end of the period there is evidence of the abandonment of farming in the uplands and deterioration of soils. From the Iron Age, hill forts in southern Scotland are associated with cultivation ridges and terraces. Souterrains, small underground constructions, may have been for storing perishable agricultural products. Extensive prehistoric field systems underlie existing boundaries in some Lowland areas, suggesting that the fertile plains were already densely exploited for agriculture. During the period of Roman occupation of Britain there was re-growth of birch, oak and hazel indicating a reduction in agriculture.
==Land and climate==
(詳細はpastoral land, under 60 metres above sea level, and most of this is located in the south and east. This made marginal pastoral farming and fishing, the key factors in the pre-modern economy.〔E. Gemmill and N. J. Mayhew, ''Changing Values in Medieval Scotland: a Study of Prices, Money, and Weights and Measures'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), ISBN 0521473853, pp. 8–10.〕 Its east Atlantic position means that it has very heavy rainfall: today about 700 cm per year in the east and over 1,000 cm in the west. This encouraged the spread of blanket peat bog, the acidity of which, combined with high level of wind and salt spray, made most of the western islands treeless. The existence of hills, mountains, quicksands and marshes made agriculture and internal communication difficult.〔C. Harvie, ''Scotland: a Short History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), ISBN 0192100548, pp. 10–11.〕
At times during the last interglacial period (130,000–70,000 BCE) Europe had a climate warmer than it is today, and early humans may have made their way to Scotland, though archaeologists have found no traces of this. Glaciers then scoured their way across most of Britain, and only after the ice retreated did Scotland again become habitable, around 9600 BCE.〔F. Pryor, ''Britain B.C.: Life in Britain and Ireland before the Romans'' (London: Harper Collins, 2003), ISBN 000712693X, p. 99.〕 Mesolithic hunter-gatherer encampments formed the first known settlements, and archaeologists have dated an encampment near Biggar to around 8500 BCE. Numerous other sites found around Scotland build up a picture of highly mobile boat-using people making tools from bone, stone and antlers.〔P. J. Ashmore, ''Neolithic and Bronze Age Scotland: an Authoritative and Lively Account of an Enigmatic Period of Scottish Prehistory'' (London: Batsford, 2003), ISBN 0713475307, p. 19.〕 The oldest house for which there is evidence in Britain is the oval structure of wooden posts found at South Queensferry near the Firth of Forth, dating from the Mesolithic period, about 8240 BCE.〔R. Gray, ("Bridge works uncover nation's oldest house" ), ''Herald Scotland'', 18 November 2012, retrieved 7 December 2012.〕
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