The distribution of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites shows activity within four of the eight local authorities of the Clyde Valley (Inverclyde, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, and South Lanarkshire) with a large concentration in South Lanarkshire and a smaller concentration in Inverclyde, highlighting patterns of work targeting the Mesolithic in those areas (Figure 1: Distribution of Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Sites in CVARF area).
Within the Clyde Valley there are historical issues within the historic environment record for sites attributed to the Mesolithic. Finlay (2015) reported 53 sites accredited to the Mesolithic, and of these 23 were noted by the author as ‘possible’ Mesolithic sites as they exist as assemblages of lithics, lithic working sites or lithic scatters, with some diagnostically Mesolithic components, and were not radiocarbon dated. Within the Clyde Valley 26 sites were found through field walking, a repeated visual inspection of the ground surface to locate lithic material. This enables gathering of a large number of lithics and debitage, however without returning to excavate the underlying features the information obtained about these sites is limited. Additionally, 22 sites within the study area are recorded as assemblages of lithics located by antiquarian research which are preserved in the historic record with broad or incomplete find locations. These assemblages are mostly donated or purchased by museums, but three are noted still in possession of the finder, which not only provides vague knowledge of the location of the find but does not allow the artefacts to be studied.
Since the production of Finlay’s essay, four more sites have been identified. South Calder Windfarm located an unstratified tanged point (Figure 2, 94873) which has been attributed to the Palaeolithic (Morrison & Cameron 2013). Three Mesolithic pits at Camps Valley, a lithic scatter at Hyndford Quarry, South Lanarkshire (7126, O’Connell 2023), and a Mesolithic pit (5551) at Nairn Street, Larkhall (Mooney 2023). The publication of Howburn Farm was released in 2018 discussing the evidence of Late Upper Palaeolithic at the site (Ballin et al 2018).
