ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the one group of shell-midden sites, and demonstrates that there may be more important considerations to be evaluated than some researchers have allowed. It also concentrates on the Scottish sites, as the other two areas have been fully discussed in other publications. It has long been known that there were shell-midden sites in Scotland; as a result of isostatic uplift, Scotland's early shorelines have been well preserved. Two major middens of oyster shell have been investigated in the past, both in the Forth Valley- Inveravon and Polmonthill, and both were presumed to be typical 'Mesolithic' hunter-gatherer sites. Recent work has identified a total of 18 middens of oyster shell in the Forth Valley. The oyster valves have been convincingly demonstrated to decrease in size during the occupation of the midden, and there are copious burning levels and hearths within the bulk of the site.
