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Engineering Vacancies Scotland
Mankind left few traces in the Scottish landscape during the first 3000 years when nomadic, Mesolithic peoples populated the country. Those who relied on fishing, hunting, collecting wild plants, berries and nuts left no more than the debris of hearths and stone workings. The gradual emergence of the Mesolithic lifestyle into the more settled Neolithic left a lasting mark on the landscape (BC Scotland 1999). After around 4000 BC, people began to build permanent houses and burial places, the latter of which highlights, for many archaeologists, the culture and status of the long disappeared inhabitants.
Our Distant Ancestors
The understanding of Neolithic society in Britain is based largely on interpretations of the many burial and ceremonial structures that survive and the changes over time in the way these places were used. There is little information about the day-to-day lives of these people and, of course, no written evidence. Therefore, the crux of investigating the lives of ancient peoples lies in the burial sites and viewing the artefacts found therein. Also of great significance is evidence of a shift away from communal burial, around 2500 BC in Scotland, to individual burial sites, which suggest that Neolithic peoples had a reverence for certain individuals within their societal structure and buried prominent members according to their status (G Barclay 1998).
Artefacts and Ecofacts
The discovery of Grooved Ware pottery in some of the archaeological sites around Scotland, such as Balfarg, near Glenrothes, exemplifies the artistic culture of Neolithic peoples, but more tellingly, the evidence of traces of the hallucinogenic plant henbane suggests that some of these early societies were spiritually guided by a shaman-like elder, whose "visions" and wisdom thereof is comparable to the tribal populations of the North American plains. Further to this idea is the discovery of eagle feathers, talons and claws at the Isbister Chambered Tomb in Orkney and the presence of bleached, weathered human remains, suggesting the Isbister peoples did not immediately bury their dead, but laid them on platforms in the open air to decay and/or be eaten by birds in a process called excarnation.