AN INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT SCOTLAND
An Introduction to Ancient Scotland
From about 8,000 BC the first people came to Scotland from Europe in what archaeologists call the Mesolithic period. These were the hunter-gatherers: nomads who lived in temporary camps, hunted animals like deer and fish, and lived off the plentiful supplies of fruits and berries found in the forests
Around 4,000 BC a great change took place in the lifestyle of Scotland’s early peoples. In what is called the Neolithic period they settled down and started to farm the land, clearing the forests to plant crops and tend animals like cattle and sheep.
Mostly they settled where many Scots live today: in fertile river valleys, building farmsteads or small village communities. Surrounding their settlements was a ritual landscape of chambered tombs holding the bones of their ancestors and great stone circles like Callanish on Lewis or The Ring of Brodgar on Orkney.
The Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis: between 4.5-5 thousand years old, with alignments to the moon and the points of the compass.
The discovery around 2,500 BC of how to turn rock into metals revolutionised society as the Bronze Age began. At first gold jewellery or bronze axes were imported, but within 500 years metal was being worked here. Scotland lay on the main trade route from gold-rich Ireland to northern Europe. Along its path new power centres emerged like Kilmartin in Argyll, while places like Orkney lost out.
Those who controlled the trade in metal gathered wealth and flaunted new symbols of power: finely crafted bronze swords, intricately patterned shields and large spear heads for flamboyant display. People began to be buried individually with grave goods for their afterlife, and made rich offerings to gods and goddesses, like the Ballahulish figurine, for good fortune.
The climate was warmer than it is today; agriculture flourished and the population expanded, even high upland pastures were farmed for crops. But in the late Bronze Age the climate rapidly cooled, increasing the competition for resources.
Around 700 BC metal workers figured out how to smelt iron, heralding the start of the Iron Age. Stronger and more abundant than bronze, iron was far superior for making weapons and armour - further accelerating social change. Prosperous farmers built defensive houses like brochs and crannogs against raiding warbands or looked to powerful warlords or chieftains in hill forts to protect their rich farmlands.
Two thousand years ago Scotland was covered with a patchwork of different tribes that spoke languages akin to Gaelic and Welsh. It wasn’t a dark forested land inhabited by savages but a complex and sophisticated civilisation that had successfully shaped its environment in order to survive. In AD 79 our mysterious ancestors faced their greatest challenge, a Roman invasion.
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