Mid-Holocene charcoal fall in southern Scotland — temporal and spatial variability

Four securely 14C-dated pollen and microscopic charcoal stratigraphies, and measures of peat humification, from sites representing a range of environmental settings and altitudes within one small region of southern Scotland are examined for the period 7000–5000 cal. BP to identify the consistency of representation, spatial patterning and temporal variability of the mid-Holocene charcoal fall. Charcoal falls are identified at three lowland sites, but not in the upland sequence. The charcoal falls at these sites may reflect an increase in fire regime in the later Mesolithic, determined in part by a shift to drier regional climate, rather than a subsequent reduction in burning. The charcoal fall is not synchronous within the region, but differs between sites over c. 1000 cal. years. Each fall is associated with one of two shifts to drier soil conditions at c. 6100 or 5400 cal. BP. At two sites the charcoal fall also coincides with Ulmus declines.