ARCHAEOLOGISTS working on the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate in Aberdeenshire have uncovered evidence that people were active in this mountainous landscape thousands of years earlier than previously thought.
Excavations at sites deep in the Cairngorm glens have produced radiocarbon dates which demonstrate a human presence as far back as 8,100 BC, with some places being revisited over many thousands of years.
The first evidence that hunter-gatherer groups were living in the Cairngorms was discovered on the Mar Lodge Estate in 2003, when a major footpath repair programme turned up prehistoric worked stone artefacts.
Without radiocarbon dates only an approximate date for the artefacts was possible at the time, with initial estimates of around 5,000 BC.
However, the National Trust for Scotland(NTS) teamed up with archaeologists and environmental scientists from Aberdeen University, University College Dublin and Stirling University to set up the Upper Dee Tributaries Project in 2013 to develop our understanding of the Estate’s prehistory.
The project has cast a fascinating light on how early people used the upland landscapes after the retreat of the last glaciers, something about which very little is known in Scotland.
The NTS said radiocarbon dates of 6,200 - 6,100 BC from a site in Glen Geldie are remarkable because they coincide with the most dramatic climatic deterioration seen since the last ice age, in which permanent snow fields would have been a feature of the Cairngorms, and glaciers may have started reforming.
Trust Archaeologist Dr Shannon Fraser said: "It is incredible to think that what we have discovered at this one spot in a vast landscape may represent a small group of people stopping for only a night or two, repairing their hunting equipment and then moving on.
"Glen Geldie is a very chilly place today, even with all our modern outdoor clothing – it is hard to imagine what it must have been like in the much harsher climate 8,000 years ago.”
The earliest dates come from a site in Glen Dee, at a key stopping point for travellers moving through mountain passes between Deeside and Speyside, with links both to north west Scotland and the North Sea coast.
Excavations by Aberdeen University are revealing a complex history of settlement, with people gathering by the riverside as early as c8,100 BC – perhaps only a few hundred years after communities begin to move back into Scotland as the ice retreated.
The sandy beach at this ideal salmon-fishing ground continued to attract people for thousands of years, until at least c900 BC – the late bronze age.
Aberdeenshire Council is a strong supporter of the project and the council's archaeologist Bruce Mann said: “Not so many years ago we thought we understood the glens of the Cairngorms, as a landscape largely empty of people in prehistory.
"Now this work has turned such thinking on its head, and shows the importance of why we support these projects. In the future we’ll be better informed about how we manage that land, while providing an amazing story for visitors to the area.”
Excavation director Dr Graeme Warren will give a public talk about the latest discoveries on 21 July at Mar Lodge in Braemar, at 7pm.
Mar Lodge Estate is a Scottish Highland estate in Aberdeenshire, owned by the National Trust for Scotland which is entirely contained within the Cairngorms National Park and is important for nature conservation, landscape, recreation and culture.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here