Legacies of Loss: Is There a Place for Intangible Perceptions in the Palaeoecology of the Scottish Highlands?

This contribution explores interconnections between tangible historical and ecological legacies of changes in land use and intangible perceptions of place shaped by historical social injustice and loss. During the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, farming communities in the Scottish Highlands were forcibly evicted in a period known as the Highland Clearances. The heathland-dominated landscapes were transformed as dispersed settlements were replaced by extensive sheep farms and elite sporting estates. These upheavals left deep imprints on both the ecology and the cultural memory of the Highlands, which persist to this day. By comparing historical records with palaeoecological evidence, this contribution examines the contrasting legacies – social and ecological – of the Clearances. It reveals that even at moments of profound social transformation, ecological and cultural histories do not always align. Yet these discrepancies can offer unexpected insights, prompting new conversations about the role of heritage and the future of valued heathland landscapes.