Moments of crisis: climate change in Scottish prehistory

Richard Tipping (Author)

Richard Bradley (Author)

Jeff Sanders (Author)

Robert McCulloch (Author)

Robert Wilson (Author)


Keywords:
Timber, Building Timber
Period(s):
Prehistoric

Abstract


There is strong evidence for many key turning points in Scottish and north-west European prehistory – what we call moments of 'crisis' – to be associated with evidence for widespread and abrupt natural changes in climate. Association or coincidence are not cause, though, and the testing of specific hypotheses to establish this relation is needed. The timing of these moments of abrupt climatic change in Scottish prehistory is proposed in a review of the many new data-sets of prehistoric climate change affecting the North Atlantic region. The case is made that Scotland in prehistory, because of its location in the North Atlantic region, should become a testing-ground of the relation between prehistoric society and climate change, to move debate beyond merely coincidence matching.

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Published
30-11-2013
How to Cite
Tipping, R., Bradley, R., Sanders, J., McCulloch, R., & Wilson, R. (2013). Moments of crisis: climate change in Scottish prehistory. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 142, 9–25. https://doi.org/10.9750/PSAS.142.9.25
Section
Articles