Possible climatically driven, later prehistoric woodland decline on Ben Lomond, central Scotland

Abstract Later prehistoric woodland decline over most parts of Scotland is widely regarded as having been anthropogenic, via a range mechanisms, to create farmland. Climatic causes are seen only have driven the rapid expansion and then terminal Pinus sylvestris around 2000 cal BC . Here we report radiocarbon dated analyses pollen, microscopic charcoal, coprophilous fungal spores peat humification from small, water-shedding interfluve bog at 230 m elevation on west-facing slope mountain Ben Lomond in west-central Scotland. The record spans interval ca. 3450 − 200 It shows marked changes composition before 2600 , 1940 gradual Betula woodland. This happened with no palaeoecological or archaeological evidence for anthropogenic activity. Woodland interpreted this site climatically driven, perhaps through paludification or, more likely, exposure wind, within period pronounced climatic deterioration. Anthropogenic activities hinted after 850