Editing History of Scotland (section)

==Pre-history==
{{Main|Prehistoric Scotland}}
[[File:Knapp of Howar 2.jpg|thumb|right|The oldest standing house in Northern Europe is at [[Knap of Howar]], dating from 3500&nbsp;BC.]]
Although there have been claims of [[Lower Paleolithic]] finds in Scotland, none stand up to close scrutiny.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Saville |first=Alan |last2=O'Neil |first2=Marion |date=1998-11-30 |title=Palaeolithic handaxes in Scotland |url=https://journals.socantscot.org/index.php/psas/article/view/9998 |journal=Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland |language=en |volume=127 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.9750/PSAS.127.1.16 |issn=2056-743X}}</ref> The earliest known human presence in Scotland are those of [[Upper Paleolithic]] hunter gathers, dating to the [[Bølling–Allerød Interstadial]] warm period at the end of the [[last ice age]], around 14,670 to c. 12,900 years [[Before Present]] shortly following the retreat of the ice sheet that had previously covered Scotland.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Hardy |first=Karen |last2=Barlow |first2=Natasha L.M. |last3=Taylor |first3=Edward |last4=Bradley |first4=Sarah L. |last5=McCarthy |first5=John |last6=Rush |first6=Graham |date=2025-04-23 |title=At the far end of everything: A likely Ahrensburgian presence in the far north of the Isle of Skye, Scotland |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jqs.3718 |journal=Journal of Quaternary Science |language=en |doi=10.1002/jqs.3718 |issn=0267-8179|doi-access=free }}</ref> The earliest known site of human presence is the Howburn Farm encampment near [[Biggar, South Lanarkshire|Biggar]], [[South Lanarkshire]], which is dated to around 14,500 to 14,000 years ago, and is associated with the reindeer hunting [[Hamburgian culture]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=9 April 2009 |title=Signs of Earliest Scots Unearthed |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7992300.stm |access-date=15 July 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Biggar Archaeology News – Early Mesolithic flint assemblage found |url=http://www.biggararchaeology.org.uk/news03_109_howburn.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010201621/http://www.biggararchaeology.org.uk/news03_109_howburn.shtml |archive-date=10 October 2010 |access-date=2 October 2018 |website=biggararchaeology.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ballin |first=Torben Bjarke |url=https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781784919016 |title=Reindeer hunters at Howburn Farm, South Lanarkshire: a late Hamburgian settlement in Southern Scotland - its lithic artefacts and natural environment |last2=Tipping |first2=Richard M. |date=2018 |publisher=Archaeopress Publishing Ltd |isbn=978-1-78491-902-3 |location=Summertown, Oxford}}</ref> Several other waves of late Upper Paleolithic peoples are known to have inhabited Scotland, including the [[Federmesser culture|Federmesser]] and [[Ahrensburgian]] cultures.<ref name=":2" />  Other sites found around Scotland build up a picture of highly mobile boat-using people making tools from bone, stone and antlers.<ref>{{Harvp|Ashmore|2003}}.</ref> The oldest house for which there is evidence in Britain is the oval structure of wooden posts found at [[South Queensferry]] near the [[Firth of Forth]], dating from the [[Mesolithic]] period, about 8240&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Rebecca |date=18 November 2012 |title=Bridge works uncover nation's oldest house |work=The Herald |location=Glasgow |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/bridge-works-uncover-nations-oldest-house.19439382 |access-date=7 December 2012}}</ref> The earliest stone structures are probably the three hearths found at [[Jura, Scotland|Jura]], dated to about 6000&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Harvp|Moffat|2005|pp=90–91}}.</ref>

[[Neolithic]] farming brought permanent settlements. Evidence of these includes the well-preserved stone house at [[Knap of Howar]] on [[Papa Westray]], dating from around 3500&nbsp;BC<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maxwell |first=I. |title=A History of Scotland's Masonry Construction |page=19}} in {{Harvp|Wilson|2005}}.</ref> and the village of similar houses at [[Skara Brae]] on West [[Mainland, Orkney|Mainland]], Orkney from about 500 years later.<ref>{{Harvp|Pryor|2003|pp=98–104, 246–250}}.</ref> The settlers introduced [[chambered cairn]] tombs from around 3500&nbsp;BC, as at [[Maeshowe]],<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Somerset Fry |first1=Peter |title=The History of Scotland |last2=Somerset Fry |first2=Fiona |date=1985 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-06601-3 |page=7 |ol=3484239M |author-link=Plantagenet Somerset Fry |orig-date=1982}}</ref> and from about 3000&nbsp;BC the many standing stones and circles such as those at [[Standing Stones of Stenness|Stenness]] on the mainland of Orkney, which date from about 3100&nbsp;BC, of four stones, the tallest of which is {{Convert|16|ft|m|0}} in height.<ref>{{Harvp|Wickham-Jones|2007|p=28}}.</ref> These were part of a pattern that developed in many regions across Europe at about the same time.<ref>{{Harvp|Lynch|1997|p=9}}.</ref>

The creation of cairns and Megalithic monuments continued into the [[Bronze Age]], which began in Scotland about 2000&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{Harvp|Scarre|2002|p=125}}.</ref> As elsewhere in Europe, [[hill forts]] were first introduced in this period, including the occupation of [[Eildon Hill]] near Melrose in the [[Scottish Borders]], from around 1000&nbsp;BC, which accommodated several hundred houses on a fortified hilltop.<ref>{{Harvp|Moffat|2005|p=182}}.</ref> From the [[Early Bronze Age|Early]] and [[Middle Bronze Age]] there is evidence of cellular round houses of stone, as at [[Jarlshof]] and [[Sumburgh]] in Shetland.<ref>{{Harvp|Cunliffe|2004|p=60}}.</ref> There is also evidence of the occupation of [[crannog]]s, roundhouses partially or entirely built on artificial islands, usually in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters.<ref>{{Harvp|Dixon|2004}}.</ref>

In the early [[Iron Age]], from the seventh century&nbsp;BC, cellular houses began to be replaced on the northern isles by simple [[Atlantic roundhouse]]s, substantial circular buildings with a dry stone construction. From about 400&nbsp;BC, more complex Atlantic roundhouses began to be built, as at Howe, Orkney and [[Crosskirk Broch|Crosskirk]], Caithness.<ref name="Cunliffe2004p325">{{Harvp|Cunliffe|2004|p=325}}.</ref> The most massive constructions that date from this era are the circular [[broch]] towers, probably dating from about 200&nbsp;BC.<ref name=Cunliffe2004p325/> This period also saw the first [[wheelhouse (archaeology)|wheelhouses]], a roundhouse with a characteristic outer wall, within which was a circle of stone piers (bearing a resemblance to the spokes of a wheel), but these would flourish most in the era of Roman occupation.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=Val |title=Ancient Shetland |date=1999 |publisher=B. T. Batsford |isbn=978-0-713-48001-6 |series=Historic Scotland |page=81 |ol=9825033M}}</ref> There is evidence for about 1,000 Iron Age [[List of hill forts in Scotland|hill forts in Scotland]], most located below the Clyde-Forth line,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lepage |first=Jean-Denis G. G. |title=British Fortifications Through the Reign of Richard III: An Illustrated History |date=2011 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-786-45918-6 |pages=25, 31 |ol=25061429M}}</ref> which have suggested to some archaeologists the emergence of a society of petty rulers and warrior elites recognisable from Roman accounts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hill |first=J. D. |title=How Did British Middle and Late Pre-Roman Societies Work (If They Did)? |date=2012 |work=Atlantic Europe in the First Millennium BC: Crossing the Divide |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-199-56795-9 |editor-last=Moore |editor-first=Tom |page=244 |ol=25306858M |editor-last2=Armada |editor-first2=Xosê-Lois}}</ref>