A study of marine exploitation in prehistoric Scotland, with special reference to marine shells and their archaeological contexts
The history of the study of marine exploitation in Scotland is outlined prior to the presentation of an overview of the evidence for its practice in both earlier and later prehistory. This overview is based on a corpus of Scottish prehistoric sites known to include evidence for marine exploitation. Marine shells are found on a variety of archaeological sites, many of which cannot be described as shell middens. They are defined in this work as sites given over to the primary processing and consumption of marine resources, most obviously represented by marine shells. A simple classificatory system is introduced in order to allow further discussion of the similarities and differences between various types of deposits. The material culture related to marine exploitation is discussed and ethnohistorical sources are used to demonstrate some of the ways in which similar elements of material culture have been utilised in more recent times. Issues discussed here include not only shellfish exploitation but also whaling, fishing and the use of seaweeds. The utilisation of various kinds of raw materials, of both terrestrial and marine origin, are discussed and their contextual relationship to marine resource residues
Pollard, Antony John
CC Archaeology
A study of marine exploitation in prehistoric Scotland, with special reference to marine shells and their archaeological contexts. The history of the study of marine exploitation in Scotland is outlined prior to the presentation of an overview of the evidence for its practice in both earlier and later prehistory. This overview is based on a corpus of Scottish prehistoric sites known to include evidence for marine exploitation. Marine shells are found on a variety of archaeological sites, many of which cannot be described as shell middens. They are defined in this work as sites given over to the primary processing and consumption of marine resources, most obviously represented by marine shells. A simple classificatory system is introduced in order to allow further discussion of the similarities and differences between various types of deposits. The material culture related to marine exploitation is discussed and ethnohistorical sources are used to demonstrate some of the ways in which similar elements of material culture have been utilised in more recent times. Issues discussed here include not only shellfish exploitation but also whaling, fishing and the use of seaweeds. The utilisation of various kinds of raw materials, of both terrestrial and marine origin, are discussed and their contextual relationship to marine resource residues
study marine exploitation prehistoric scotland special_reference marine shell archaeological_context history study marine exploitation scotland outline prior presentation overview evidence practice earlier later_prehistory overview base_corpus scottish prehistoric_site know include evidence marine exploitation marine shell find variety archaeological_site many describe shell_midden define work site give primary processing consumption marine_resource obviously represent marine shell simple classificatory_system introduce order allow discussion similarity_differences various_type deposit material_culture relate marine exploitation discuss ethnohistorical source_use way similar element material_culture utilise recent time issues discuss_include shellfish exploitation also whale fish use utilisation various_kind raw_material terrestrial marine origin discuss contextual relationship marine_resource residue