"Scotland's Late Hunter-Gathers - a journey through the Late Glacial to the Middle Holocene"

How do we uncover the lives of people who left no written records, lived thousands of years ago, and whose material traces have often been erased by time? In Scotland, this challenge is especially acute: harsh environments and unfavourable preservation conditions mean that much of our earliest archaeology is fragmentary. Yet, piece-by-piece, a remarkable story is emerging. Recent advances in archaeological approaches to reconstructing the past, broadly described as 'biomolecular archaeology', offer new hope of enhancing our understanding of past lifeways. As a consequence, we are now able to paint a clearer picture of these prehistoric peoples and their lifestyles.

My talk draws on this new knowledge to reflect on Scotland’s deep human past. It tackles some deceptively simple but powerful questions: who were Scotland’s ‘first’ people? What was everyday life like for them? How many people were here, how did they meet and interact, and, perhaps most enigmatic, what…