Lithic material is the primary indicator of early Holocene archaeological activity within South East Scotland due to its durability within the record. The dominance of lithic technology in explaining the lifeways of Early Prehistoric societies is therefore an understandable if not exactly desirable facet of the study of early prehistory.
The lithic assemblages of this early period utilized a wide variety of raw materials including flint, chert, quartz and chalcedonies/agates. Other supplementary materials such as fossil wood, jet, jasper and baked mudstone are also present within the record. These materials were mostly obtained from local sources.
Thus the use of a wide variety of lithic materials is an identifiable trait of early prehistoric activity and appears to have been an essential part of subsistence activities practised throughout the Mesolithic.
3.5.1.3 Quartz and Chalcedonies
3.5.1.4 Lithic Assemblages of the Upper Palaeolithic and Early Mesolithic
3.5.1.5 Lithic Material and the Later Mesolithic
The interactive map below shows some of the key lithic scatter sites identified across the region.
