Peat, Heath, and Cereal: Investigating Contributions of Nonhuman Communities to the Poiesis of Pictland through Microbotanical and Microalgae Residues

Abstract

How are aspects of human social organization, such as agriculture, settlement patterns, and routes of movement influenced by the non-human communities of northern coastal landscapes? The focus of this dissertation is to understand human-environment relationships through the lens of human-plant and human-algae relations in northern coastal environments. Using the Picts as a cultural case study, my research targets durable microscopic residues (e.g., phytoliths and diatom frustules) representing plants and algae from archaeological soils, artifacts, and dental surfaces to trace human-plant and human-algae relationships that territorialized Pictland. To fully investigate the everyday settlement landscapes in coastal environments, I advocate for a relational approach which emphasizes the interconnectedness of terrestrial and aquatic ecological zones through an emphasis on ecological indicator species (e.g., aquatic – algae, terrestrial – asters, wetlands – reeds). Microbotanical and microalgae residues in this study point to a variety of nonhuman contributions toward Pictish architecture (e.g., heather, asters, chrysophytes), settlement (e.g., upland plant/algae communities), foodways (e.g., cultivated cereals), animal feeding regimes (e.g., coastal wetlands), and land use (e.g., agro-pastoral traditions).