The detection of dairying is essential to understand prehistoric economies, particularly in northwest Europe, where a high degree of lactose tolerance implies that fresh milk has long been a significant dietary component. Domestic cattle (Bos taurus) are biologically able to breed year-round, potentially enabling farmers to select a calving strategy to suit their economic focus. Published literature and interviews with farmers suggests that spring calving would have been favoured by economies focussed on meat or storable dairy products, whereas the year-round provision of fresh milk would have required two calving seasons, in spring and autumn, or an extended period through spring, summer and autumn. This thesis uses intra-tooth isotope ratio analysis of cattle tooth enamel to predict birth seasonality as an indicator of dairying. Analysis was performed on first, second and third cattle molars from the archaeological sites of Mine Howe, Pool and Earl’s Bu (Iron Age and Viking period Orkney), Old Scatness (Iron Age Shetland) and Grimes Graves (Bronze Age Norfolk). Modern molars from Chillingham Wild White cattle were also analysed. A new method to determine cattle birth seasonality has been proposed utilising the isotopic patterning (δ13C, δ18O) recorded within first and second molar enamel. Results suggest that birth seasonality estimates are of sufficient accuracy to discriminate between single-and multiple-season calving. Although Pool and Grimes Graves have been interpreted as dairying sites from their age-at-death slaughter patterns, birth seasonality predictions imply an economy focussed on year-round fresh milk at Pool but an emphasis on storable dairy products at Grimes Graves. In addition, it has been demonstrated that intra-tooth enamel data can provide information regarding sub-annual variation in diet and environment. A new method to investigate weaning strategy has also been proposed.

Human activity can affect the soil in ways which are traceable long after the land has been given over to other uses, and past land management practices can be reconstructed by investigation of these relict characteristics. In some regions the addition of fertilising materials to the arable soils has created artificially deepened anthropogenic topsoils which can be over 1m thick. Such relict soils are found all over the world, and are widespread in north-western Europe. This work focuses on the anthropogenic soils in the Northern Isles, which were formed from the Neolithic period up until the 20th century. Three multi-period sites were investigated using thin section micromorphology, organic/inorganic phosphate analysis, soil magnetism, particle size distribution, loss on ignition and soil pH. Current views of anthropogenic soil formation, based on pedological investigation and historical documentary sources, are that they are formed as a result of the addition of domestic animal manures and turf used as animal bedding to arable areas. This project sets out to test the hypothesis that in fact anthropogenic soils are the result of a wide range of formation processes which took place over extended periods of time. The hypothesis has been tested by analysing soils and associated middens of different dates, which have been sealed and protected by blown sand deposits. The results have shown that in the Neolithic period arable soils were created by cultivating the settlement's midden heaps as well as by adding midden material to the surrounding soils. In the Bronze Age human manure, ash and domestic waste were spread onto the fields around the settlements to create arable topsoils up to 35cm thick. In the Iron Age arable agriculture was intensified by selective use of organic manures on one of the sites investigated, but organic waste material was not used as efficiently as it was in later periods, and on both sites it was allowed to accumulate within the settlements. In the Norse period, when the intensive system used in historical times appears to have originated, organic waste may have been used more efficiently. These changes appear to reflect a greater organisation of land resources and manuring strategies and increased demand for arable production over time.

The detection of dairying is essential to understand prehistoric economies, particularly in northwest Europe, where a high degree of lactose tolerance implies that fresh milk has long been a significant dietary component. Domestic cattle (Bos taurus) are biologically able to breed year-round, potentially enabling farmers to select a calving strategy to suit their economic focus. Published literature and interviews with farmers suggests that spring calving would have been favoured by economies focussed on meat or storable dairy products, whereas the year-round provision of fresh milk would have required two calving seasons, in spring and autumn, or an extended period through spring, summer and autumn. This thesis uses intra-tooth isotope ratio analysis of cattle tooth enamel to predict birth seasonality as an indicator of dairying. Analysis was performed on first, second and third cattle molars from the archaeological sites of Mine Howe, Pool and Earl’s Bu (Iron Age and Viking period Orkney), Old Scatness (Iron Age Shetland) and Grimes Graves (Bronze Age Norfolk). Modern molars from Chillingham Wild White cattle were also analysed. A new method to determine cattle birth seasonality has been proposed utilising the isotopic patterning (δ13C, δ18O) recorded within first and second molar enamel. Results suggest that birth seasonality estimates are of sufficient accuracy to discriminate between single-and multiple-season calving. Although Pool and Grimes Graves have been interpreted as dairying sites from their age-at-death slaughter patterns, birth seasonality predictions imply an economy focussed on year-round fresh milk at Pool but an emphasis on storable dairy products at Grimes Graves. In addition, it has been demonstrated that intra-tooth enamel data can provide information regarding sub-annual variation in diet and environment. A new method to investigate weaning strategy has also been proposed.

Food is the foundation upon which societies are built. It is a means of survival, a source of wealth and prosperity and can be used as a means of social display. In Iron Age Atlantic Scotland, a wide range of food resources were open to exploitation. Among these, barley is likely to have been an important backbone to the system. Far from being at the mercy of the elements, the Iron Age population of Atlantic Scotland was able to extract surpluses of food from the landscape which could be manipulated for social, political and economic gain. One means through which this could be achieved is feasting, a practice considered significant elsewhere in the Iron Age. With such ideas at its core, this thesis examines the main arenas for consumption events in Iron Age Atlantic Scotland (dwellings) in detail, considering also the underpinnings of the system in terms of food production and accumulation, in particular the barley crop. The distribution of food processing and preparation between a dwelling and its associated ancillary buildings at Old Scatness provides insights into the organisation of life on the settlement.

Food is the foundation upon which societies are built. It is a means of survival, a source of wealth and prosperity and can be used as a means of social display. In Iron Age Atlantic Scotland, a wide range of food resources were open to exploitation. Among these, barley is likely to have been an important backbone to the system. Far from being at the mercy of the elements, the Iron Age population of Atlantic Scotland was able to extract surpluses of food from the landscape which could be manipulated for social, political and economic gain. One means through which this could be achieved is feasting, a practice considered significant elsewhere in the Iron Age. With such ideas at its core, this thesis examines the main arenas for consumption events in Iron Age Atlantic Scotland (dwellings) in detail, considering also the underpinnings of the system in terms of food production and accumulation, in particular the barley crop. The distribution of food processing and preparation between a dwelling and its associated ancillary buildings at Old Scatness provides insights into the organisation of life on the settlement.

Shetland boasts exceptionally well-preserved, but largely overlooked, field systems spanning a period of approximately 4000 years (Neolithic/Bronze Age – Viking/Norse). These have the potential to vastly increase our understanding of past agricultural practices and life styles. This study uses topographical survey, Shape Analysis, GIS, soil survey and micromorphology to answer questions relating to their location, form and function/management, pioneering the use of new tools and testing current models. An holistic landscape approach to the field systems is developed and tested against a multi-period site. Previously unknown types and periods of field systems are identified through survey and shape analysis, tools demonstrated to be valuable in refining the emerging model of field classification. GIS has illuminated pre-, during and post- construction factors influencing boundary form. New insights into location arise from the survey and GIS. Soils work has demonstrated that existing models of soil management over-simplify a complex situation, that thin acidic soils retain cultural information and that accretion was important to the sustainability of these peaty soils. While soils were sustainable over extended periods, the cultural inheritance of managed land appears to be limited. This thesis therefore presents the most holistic and comprehensive understanding of Shetland field systems which has so far been attempted.