Introduction
The earliest settlements in Scotland are those of gatherer-hunters. Little is known in detail of the kinds of structures that these people built for the many thousands of years they foraged, fished and hunted. Many Mesolithic settlements are very poorly preserved, badly damaged by many years of agriculture. This is, in part, a reflection of the light character of many Mesolithic structures. Archaeologists have tended to divide Mesolithic settlements into two types: middens and other settlements. This mainly reflects archaeological classifications, and may not accurately indicate how people in the past understood their world.
This image shows archaeologists excavating a Mesolithic site at Kinloch, Rum. The image is from www.scran.ac.uk
find out more about midden sites
find our more about other gatherer-hunter settlements
find out about early farming settlements
