Farming in the shadows of Rome: A multi‐proxy palaeoenvironmental record from Loch Clunie—Perthshire

Abstract

Roman impacts on local society is a subject of international significance. Loch Clunie, Perthshire, lies only 5.4 km from Inchtuthil, the only Roman legionary fortress in Scotland, and contains two crannogs and a probable lakeside hillfort. Despite this proximity and the likelihood of local–Roman interaction, these sites remain unexcavated. This paper presents palaeoenvironmental evidence for long‐term social‐economic change at Loch Clunie, contributing to a region with few well‐dated environmental–archaeological sequences for the Roman Iron Age and beyond. Pollen, non‐pollen palynomorph and sedimentological analyses are used to investigate patterns of environmental change and social activity from the later prehistoric period through to the late medieval era. The results indicate the presence of a local farming community pre‐dating Roman incursions into Scotland. This is followed by a marked increase in barley cultivation either slightly before or during the early Roman Iron Age. The mid‐Roman Iron Age is represented by a short‐lived vegetation downturn and subsequent recovery. However, the most distinct change occurs during the late Roman Iron Age, represented by a pronounced decline to almost complete disappearance of barley from the third to fourth centuries AD, lasting approximately 400 years. Settlement–economic downturns are emerging at other sites in north‐eastern Scotland with comparable temporal scales, although their causes appear to be complex. At Loch Clunie, there is no evidence to link this event to the Severan campaigns of AD 208–211. Indeed, this event appears slightly later. There is evidence, however, for a rise in lake levels, which could potentially be linked to Late Roman climatic deterioration.

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