Using this information we can deduce the type of vegetation and the amount vegetation cover for that time.
Minuscule deposits of charcoal in the core provide evidence of forest burning which would show evidence for clearing an area of woodland for some purpose but we can just guess at that purpose, maybe to drive game onto the arrows and spears of the awaiting huntsmen or maybe encourage new growth of plant life that may yield food such as hazel nuts.
At Staosnaig, a site on the island of Colonsay uncovered a pit of hundreds of thousands of charred hazel nutshells which microscope analysis revealed that they were all dumped there at around the same time. Suggesting that this was due to one massive harvest which in turn suggests that this was not performed by small group of people but more like a gathering of people.
However even for a large group of people the amount of hazel nutshells is huge and has firmed the idea that Mesolithic people were not just eating whatever they came across but were managing their resources for greater production of food. This could have been achieved by two methods burning out clearings, as it would have encouraged new hazel growth and pruning, which was already taking place in other parts of Europe.
Other main sources of information regarding this time come from things called shell middens, these are huge heaps of shells that have been discarded but what makes them useful is that due to the alkaline chemical nature of the shells artifacts that would usually be destroyed by the acidic nature of Scottish soils are preserved within the shells. On the island of Oronsay these middens were excavated and proved to contain mammal bones, bone tools, bird bones and antler tools as well as large quantities of fish bones.
However the most interesting find made was when a student investigating tiny fish bones called otoliths of the saithe or coalfish noticed that the sizes of these otoliths changed from site to site around the island. He then through many experiments discovered that the size of the otoliths was very closely related to season that the fish died in. This suggests that each midden around the island was inhabited for a particular season at a time.
So it seems these hunter gathers used to only occupy one place for a particular season but seemed to occupy these places regularly at the season’s appropriate to their needs, for example Priory midden in the winter, Cnoc Sligeach in mid summer, Cnoc Coid in autumn and Caisteal nan Gillian II in early summer.
However for the people on Colonsay we can see that fish was not their only form of food and the is evidence that the lifestyle was not as simple as circulating different hunting spots around the island as objects such as red deer antlers were found and it is unlikely that red deer ever inhabited the island so this leads to the assumption that either trade was taking place or that hunting parties were traveling further a field.
However counteracting this evidence of a varied diet is the isotopic values from human bone recovered from Oronsay which shows that the diet of the Mesolithic inhabitants was that of ninety percent marine recourses backing up the argument that these people didn’t travel over distance but stuck to their surroundings and varied their hunting or fishing camps to match the seasons at which the food was available.
Other parts to their diet may have included plant life such as the tubers of a plant known as the lesser celandine which if not prepared by boiling or cooking would have had a toxic affect but in the past has been known as a plant with medicinal properties. There was evidence of this plant found at near by site of Stoasnaig on Colonsay, where the huge hoard of chestnuts were found so it is reasonable to assume that these too would have made up their diet combined with seal, coal fish otter and even whale.
The sort of structures that these people used to live in would have been hut structures like Navajo Hogan huts. These huts were constructed three or more linking poles this again can be seen at stoasnaig were a pole may have been set at a angle in the gully to form a Y configuration with a forked upright post located off center in the hollow packed by stones and would have had a central hearth. At Cnoc Coig a circular arrangement of stake holes was discovered measuring 3.0 - 3.5m in diameter and with a 'very thick and heavily burned hearth' (Mellars, P. 1979, 50) at the center. Evidence was found for many fires being lit and other hearths were also discovered, the rising mound of the midden would also have given the occupants of the camp some protection.
