The potential for environmental analyses to shed light on human activity is therefore great, and clearly more multi-proxy work needs to be undertaken as a matter of course, with techniques chosen dependent on research questions and preservation. Greater interdisciplinary work is needed. Environmental and dating analyses should be written into project plans from the start.
In some cases, volunteers could be trained to provide some of the work, as has been trialled at the Skye Ecomuseum and the WeDigs project. This would have the advantage of an increasing local expertise available after a project has completed.
Collecting data and undertaking analysis is only one step. This information needs then to be easily available, with the ability to be placed into local, regional and national contexts. This is not only a Highland problem, and would be best considered for Scotland as a whole.