Palaeoenvironmental evidence for the Neolithic period is patchy across the region, with a summary of the broader context provided by Tipping as part of the ScARF Neolithic Section. Site-based approaches remain the most common and although in the minority, larger scale landscape studies have made a notable contribution to our understanding of the Neolithic environment and the contextualising of substantial monuments such as the Cleaven Dyke (MPK6611; Barclay and Maxwell 1998).
In the uplands, pollen analysis from the wider study around Carn Dubh (MPK1752) has provided evidence of Early Neolithic woodland clearance and pasture (Rideout 1996). While on Creag na Caillich above Killin, there is evidence that upland blanket peat started to form during the early fourth millennium BC. Then during the late fourth millennium BC, forest and scrub was cleared, including through burning, though apparently not for grazing (Tipping in Edmonds et al 1993). Palaeoenvironmental work over a broad timescale was undertaken as part of the Ben Lawers Historic Landscape Project and the discovery of waterlogged woodland remains in Loch Tay by that project was especially significant (Dixon 2007; Dixon 2016). The potential of Craggantoul (MPK17641) to contribute tree-ring data to the development of long native tree-ring chronologies in this region for dating, environmental and climate research applications remains unassessed (Mills 2021). Most recently, the SERF Project undertook extensive sampling and archaeobotanical analysis around Forteviot and in Strathearn more widely, furthering understanding of how local environmental resources were utilised across a broad time frame including the Neolithic (Brophy and Noble 2020, 20, 48).
