Synopses & Reviews
This story of early Scotland begins 10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age when the familiar Scottish geography of mountains, glens, and rugged coasts evolved. It follows the movement of hunter-gatherers north, the growth of fishing, the establishment of farming. The author also covers cultural evolution in Scotland '" the roles played by megalith builders, Celts, Picts, and others.
Synopsis
There is still a tendency today to regard history as the story of man's progress from prehistoric savagery to modern sophistication', and yet the people who lived in Scotland 10,000 years ago would have acted and thought in similar ways to us. So argues Alexander Moffat in the introduction to his fascinating and very easy to read survey of Scotland's environment and the people who affected it from the end of the Ice Age to AD 900 when the term Alba' was created. The study clearly guides us through the formation of Scotland's dramatic landscape and the arrival of the first hunter-gatherer-fisher settlers, tempted by the warming climate. Moffat presents the archaeological evidence for the first buildings, boats, and artefacts but he also looks beneath the surface to consider how human needs, sensibilities and beliefs shaped these remains, such as the layout of a house and the construction of the earliest stone monuments in Britain. Throughout, side panels present Moffat's reflections and digressions on a whole range of topics, such as examples of modern echoes of ancient behaviour, catastrophes, the age of the earth, Himalayan prawns, the creation of a perfect henge circle and Native Americans. This is a good book that cannot fail to convey to the general reader the author's expert enthusiasm for Scotland's past.
Synopsis
Alistair Moffat's gripping narrative begins 10,000 years ago, when the power of icebreak and meltwater at the close of the Ice Age produced the familiar Scottish geography of mountains, glens, flatlands and rugged coasts. As the permafrost gave way to vegetation, herding animals moved north, closely followed by bands of hunters. In fact, modern DNA studies show that almost eighty percent of the present population of Britain are the direct descendants of these first bunter gatherer fishers. By 3800 BC farmers had become established, creating remarkable timber halls whose remains have newly come to light and later the great standing stones at Callanish, the Ring of Brodgar and elsewhere. And by the first millennium BC a sophisticated Celtic culture animated the whole island, reemerging in the fifth century AD after the brutal Roman occupation. In the north of Scotland, Pietish culture flourished. Seen against the continuum of 8,000 years of prehistory, the Piets appear less mysterious, their beautiful, unique symbol stones forming a late sequence in a long tradition of sanctity. North Britain began to change into Scotland with the success of the Gaelic kings of Argyll the name "Scot" originally meant a seaborne raider or pirate. By AD 900 King Constantine II had consolidated the ambitions of the Scots and created the basis of the polity that has come down to us. One of the pleasures of this outstanding book is the light touch with which the author displays his breadth of knowledge interweaving the main narrative with discussion of intriguing, often quirky topics such as cave drawings of dancing girls, natural birth control, the myth of Atlantis and the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence.
Synopsis
The author also covers cultural evolution in Scotland '" the roles played by megalith builders, Celts, Picts, and others.