Palaeoenvironmental investigations directly associated with a neolithic axe ‘quarry’ on Beinn Lawers, near Killin, Perthshire, Scotland

SUMMARY A peat column containing two discrete layers of debitage from the production of neolithic axe ‘rough‐outs’ at Creag na Caillich, above Killin, Perthshire, was sampled to obtain an understanding of the environmental changes taking place at the site prior to, during and immediately after utilization of the stone resource. The column was subject to sedimentological analyses, and to ‘high‐resolution’ palynological analyses, including pollen preservation and microscopic charcoal counts. Five radiocarbon dates were obtained. The site, at 750 m OD, is thought to have been just below the tree‐line, within hazel‐birch woodland, with some elm, but close to its upper limit. Peat inception at c. 5950 cal BP is thought to have been climatic in origin, in the absence of evidence for anthropogenic activity. Slight anthropogenic modifications to the scrubby woodland, with a decline of elm, are recorded from c. 5250 cal BP, close to the lower axe debitage layer. Clearance at this time appears not to have been for grazing, but was possibly for fires. The modification of the montane grass‐heath to an ‘anthropogenic’ grassland under grazing pressure occurred later, from c. 4600 cal BP, prior to the second period of axe ‘manufacture’ at c 3800 cal BP.