Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction and Evaluation: A Case Study from Orkney

One major aspect of an archaeological project concerned with the Orcadian Neolithic has been the reconstruction and evaluation of the palaeoenvironment during that period. Environmental reconstruction based largely upon palaeobotanical studies indicates the presence of a quite impoverished and virtually treeless landscape from at least 4000 b.p. to the present day. Interpretation of this data allows the inference that geomorphic, edaphic and climatic conditions have changed relatively little throughout this time-span. Neolithic and later peoples adjusted to such terrain in pursuit of mixed agrarian economies. The relative importance of individual factors of the palaeoenvironment to early societies is evaluated by means of a simulation model designed to test the established view that Neolithic chambered tombs tend to be located at the back of better agricultural land. Seven environmental factors were recorded for a large number of points on the island of Rousay and were weighted in numerous ways. Sites were generated and the resultant simulated patterns compared to the actual distribution of tombs. It was found that a simulated pattern based on proximity to a beach coastline, or based on steep land, produced the best approximations and it is proposed that these, rather than the agricultural value of the land, are the chief factors influencing their distribution.