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129-395: Skolithos (formerly spelled Scolithus or Skolithus ) is a common trace fossil ichnogenus that is, or was originally, an approximately vertical cylindrical burrow with a distinct lining. It was produced globally by a variety of organisms, mostly in shallow marine environments, and appears as linear features in sedimentary rocks. Skolithos ranges in age from early Cambrian to

258-965: A referendum on devolution proposals in 1997 , the Scotland Act 1998 was passed by the British Parliament, which established a devolved Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government with responsibility for most laws specific to Scotland. The Scottish Parliament was reconvened in Edinburgh on 4 July 1999. The first to hold the office of first minister of Scotland was Donald Dewar , who served until his sudden death in 2000. The Scottish Parliament Building at Holyrood opened in October 2004 after lengthy construction delays and running over budget. The Scottish Parliament's form of proportional representation (the additional member system ) resulted in no one party having an overall majority for

387-635: A distinctive Norse–Gaelic culture that saw many Old Norse loanwords enter the Scottish Gaelic spoken by islanders, and through successive generations the Norse would become almost completely assimilated into Gaelic culture and the Scottish clan system. After the conflict, Scotland had to affirm Norwegian sovereignty of the Northern Isles , but they were later integrated into Scotland in

516-477: A footprint is not a simple replica of the sole of the foot, and the resting trace of a seastar has different details than an impression of a seastar. Early paleobotanists misidentified a wide variety of structures they found on the bedding planes of sedimentary rocks as fucoids ( Fucales , a kind of brown algae or seaweed ). However, even during the earliest decades of the study of ichnology, some fossils were recognized as animal footprints and burrows. Studies in

645-589: A full legal union be sought instead, a proposal to which the Scots Parliament would not assent, causing the king to withdraw the plan. Except for a short period under the Protectorate , Scotland remained a separate state in the 17th century, but there was considerable conflict between the crown and the Covenanters over the form of church government . The military was strengthened, allowing

774-538: A group of raiders adopting a name from an Indo-European root , * skot , citing the parallel in Greek skotos ( σκότος ), meaning "darkness, gloom". The Late Latin word Scotia ("land of the Gaels") was initially used to refer to Ireland, and likewise in early Old English Scotland was used for Ireland. By the 11th century at the latest, Scotia was being used to refer to (Gaelic-speaking) Scotland north of

903-588: A letter addressed to Adolf Hitler that detailed his intentions to open peace negotiations with the British. Pintsch delivered the letter to Hitler at the Berghof around noon on 11 May. Albert Speer later said Hitler described Hess's departure as one of the worst personal blows of his life, as he considered it a personal betrayal. Hitler worried that his allies, Italy and Japan, would perceive Hess's act as an attempt by Hitler to secretly open peace negotiations with

1032-402: A number of Scottish-born authors achieved international reputations, such as Robert Louis Stevenson , Arthur Conan Doyle , J. M. Barrie and George MacDonald . Scotland also played a major part in the development of art and architecture. The Glasgow School , which developed in the late 19th century, and flourished in the early 20th century, produced a distinctive blend of influences including

1161-405: A perpendicular angle to the surface where it has been deposited. They can reach lengths of up to about 35 cm (14 in) and diameters of up to about 5 cm (2.0 in). The vertical burrows are composed of the same mineralogy as its surrounding matrix which allow it to deform homogenously with the parent rock. Variations in observed Skolithos structures include burrow curvature, angle to

1290-467: A population of 4.8 million in 1911, Scotland sent over half a million men to the war, of whom over a quarter died in combat or from disease, and 150,000 were seriously wounded. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig was Britain's commander on the Western Front. The war saw the emergence of a radical movement called " Red Clydeside " led by militant trades unionists. Formerly a Liberal stronghold,

1419-697: Is 30,977 square miles (80,231 km ) with a land area of 30,078 square miles (77,901 km ), comparable to the size of the Czech Republic . Scotland's only land border is with England, and runs for 96 miles (154 km) between the basin of the River Tweed on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. The Atlantic Ocean borders the west coast and the North Sea is to the east. The island of Ireland lies only 13 miles (21 km) from

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1548-599: Is a well-known example of Skolithos . The 'pipes' that give the rock its name are closely packed straight Skolithos tubes that were presumably made by a worm-like organism. The Pipe Rock can be found in the Stack of Glencoul region beneath the Moine Thrust Belt , Scotland.  This area which has a history of thrust faulting activity is a highly deformed mylonite zone with a quartzite protolith where many structural geologists have used microstructures such as

1677-675: Is broadly divided into three regions: the Highlands , a mountainous region in the north and north-west; the Lowlands , a flatter plain across the centre of the country; and the Southern Uplands , a hilly region along the southern border. The Highlands are the most mountainous region of the British Isles and contain its highest peak, Ben Nevis , at 4,413 feet (1,345 m). The region also contains many lakes, called lochs ;

1806-666: Is demonstrated by sites such as the Callanish Stones on Lewis and the Maes Howe on Orkney , which were built in the third millennium BC. The first written reference to Scotland was in 320 BC by Greek sailor Pytheas , who called the northern tip of Britain "Orcas", the source of the name of the Orkney islands. Most of modern Scotland was not incorporated into the Roman Empire , and Roman control over parts of

1935-630: Is echoed in the place names of Dunkeld , Rohallion , and Schiehallion . The Great Conspiracy constituted a seemingly coordinated invasion against Roman rule in Britain in the later 4th century, which included the participation of the Gaelic Scoti and the Caledonians, who were then known as Picts by the Romans. This was defeated by the comes Theodosius ; but Roman military government

2064-750: Is not applicable, and a comprehensive form of taxonomy has been erected. At the highest level of the classification, five behavioral modes are recognized: Fossils are further classified into form genera, a few of which are even subdivided to a "species" level. Classification is based on shape, form, and implied behavioural mode. To keep body and trace fossils nomenclatorially separate, ichnospecies are erected for trace fossils. Ichnotaxa are classified somewhat differently in zoological nomenclature than taxa based on body fossils (see trace fossil classification for more information). Examples include: Trace fossils are important paleoecological and paleoenvironmental indicators, because they are preserved in situ , or in

2193-731: Is punctuated by two events. One is called the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution (see Wilson & Palmer, 2006) and the other was in the Jurassic. For a comprehensive bibliography of the bioerosion literature, please see the External links below. The oldest types of tetrapod tail-and-footprints date back to the latter Devonian period. These vertebrate impressions have been found in Ireland , Scotland , Pennsylvania , and Australia . A sandstone slab containing

2322-700: Is said to have invested in the Darien scheme . After another proposal from the English House of Lords was rejected in 1695, and a further Lords motion was voted down in the House of Commons in 1700, the Parliament of Scotland again rejected union in 1702. The failure of the Darien Scheme bankrupted the landowners who had invested, though not the burghs. Nevertheless, the nobles' bankruptcy, along with

2451-428: Is the unit strain due to elongation •      l   is the deformed length of the structure •     l o is the initial length of the structure The structure length and orientation may be influenced by the directional behaviour of the burrowing organism, therefore observing the widths of the burrow may provide a more precise strain estimation. The famous "Pipe Rock" of northwest Scotland

2580-525: Is typical of the north-west of Europe, although several of the larger mammals such as the lynx, brown bear, wolf, elk and walrus were hunted to extinction in historic times. There are important populations of seals and internationally significant nesting grounds for a variety of seabirds such as gannets . The golden eagle is something of a national icon. On the high mountain tops, species including ptarmigan , mountain hare and stoat can be seen in their white colour phase during winter months. Remnants of

2709-753: The Bruce dynasty and their long-term rivals of the House of Comyn and House of Balliol lasted until the middle of the 14th century. Although the Bruce faction was successful, David II's lack of an heir allowed his half-nephew Robert II , the Lord High Steward of Scotland , to come to the throne and establish the House of Stewart . The Stewarts ruled Scotland for the remainder of the Middle Ages . The country they ruled experienced greater prosperity from

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2838-603: The Caledonians and the Maeatae . Other ancient authors used the adjective "Caledonian" to mean anywhere in northern or inland Britain, often mentioning the region's people and animals, its cold climate, its pearls, and a noteworthy region of wooded hills ( Latin : saltus ) which the 2nd century AD Roman philosopher Ptolemy , in his Geography , described as being south-west of the Beauly Firth . The name Caledonia

2967-476: The Cambrian got underway, new forms of trace fossil appeared, including vertical burrows (e.g. Diplocraterion ) and traces normally attributed to arthropods . These represent a "widening of the behavioural repertoire", both in terms of abundance and complexity. Trace fossils are a particularly significant source of data from this period because they represent a data source that is not directly connected to

3096-701: The Celtic Revival the Arts and Crafts movement , and Japonism , which found favour throughout the modern art world of continental Europe and helped define the Art Nouveau style. Proponents included architect and artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh . Scotland played a major role in the British effort in the First World War . It especially provided manpower, ships, machinery, fish and money. With

3225-590: The Community Charge (widely known as the Poll Tax) one year before the rest of Great Britain, contributed to a growing movement for Scottish control over domestic affairs. On 21 December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded mid–air over the town of Lockerbie , killing all on board as well as eleven Lockerbie residents. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in the United Kingdom . Following

3354-833: The Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction , to aid in understanding environmental factors involved in mass extinction events. Most trace fossils are known from marine deposits. Essentially, there are two types of traces, either exogenic ones, which are made on the surface of the sediment (such as tracks) or endogenic ones, which are made within the layers of sediment (such as burrows). Surface trails on sediment in shallow marine environments stand less chance of fossilization because they are subjected to wave and current action. Conditions in quiet, deep-water environments tend to be more favorable for preserving fine trace structures. Most trace fossils are usually readily identified by reference to similar phenomena in modern environments. However,

3483-594: The Hebrides , which had been ruled by various Scottish clans following the death of Somerled in 1164. In 1266, Scotland fought the short but consequential Scottish-Norwegian War which saw the reclamation of the Hebrides after the strong defeat of King Haakon IV and his forces at the Battle of Largs . Up until that point, the Hebrides had been under Norwegian Viking control for roughly 400 years and had developed

3612-591: The Highland Boundary Fault , which runs from Arran to Stonehaven . This part of Scotland largely comprises ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian , which were uplifted during the later Caledonian orogeny . It is interspersed with igneous intrusions of a more recent age, remnants of which formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and Skye Cuillins . In north-eastern mainland Scotland weathering of rock that occurred before

3741-525: The House of Hanover from the British throne. The threat of the Jacobite movement to the United Kingdom and its monarchs effectively ended at the Battle of Culloden , Great Britain's last pitched battle . The passing of the Treaty of Union did not bring about immediate economic prosperity to Scotland as was widely speculated by the pamphleteer as a result of the little consideration given to prospects of

3870-564: The House of Stuart was resumed with the Restoration in Scotland in 1660. The Parliament of Scotland sought a commercial union with England in 1664; the proposal was rejected in 1668. In 1670 the Parliament of England rejected a proposed political union with Scotland. English proposals along the same lines were abandoned in 1674 and in 1685. The Scots Parliament rejected proposals for a political union with England in 1689. Jacobitism ,

3999-706: The Last Ice Age has shaped much of the landscape. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstones found principally along the Moray Firth coast. The Highlands are generally mountainous and the highest elevations in the British Isles are found here. Scotland has over 790 islands divided into four main groups: Shetland , Orkney , and the Inner Hebrides and Outer Hebrides . There are numerous bodies of freshwater including Loch Lomond and Loch Ness . Some parts of

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4128-470: The Mesolithic period . It is believed the first post-glacial groups of hunter-gatherers arrived in Scotland around 12,800 years ago, as the ice sheet retreated after the last glaciation . At the time, Scotland was covered in forests, had more bog-land, and the main form of transport was by water. These settlers began building the first known permanent houses on Scottish soil around 9,500 years ago, and

4257-826: The Moscow region in Russia , and the Kamchatka Peninsula on the opposite side of Eurasia . Temperatures are generally lower than in the rest of the UK, with the temperature of −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) recorded at Braemar in the Grampian Mountains , on 11 February 1895, the coldest ever recorded anywhere in the UK. Winter maxima average 6 °C (43 °F) in the Lowlands, with summer maxima averaging 18 °C (64 °F). The highest temperature recorded

4386-529: The North Sea to the north-east and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. The population in 2022 was 5,439,842. Edinburgh is the capital and Glasgow is the largest of the cities of Scotland . The Kingdom of Scotland emerged as an independent sovereign state in the 9th century. In 1603, James VI succeeded to the thrones of England and Ireland , forming a personal union of the three kingdoms . On 1 May 1707, Scotland and England combined to create

4515-533: The Parliament of Great Britain , which succeeded both the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of England , which rejected proposals from the Parliament of Ireland that the third kingdom be incorporated in the union. Andrew Fletcher , a prominent Scottish patriot, argued that the ratification of the treaty would see Scotland "more like a conquered province", and by 1713, the former Lord Chancellor of Scotland , James Ogilvy, 4th Earl of Findlater , who

4644-652: The River Forth , alongside Albania or Albany , both derived from the Gaelic Alba . The use of the words Scots and Scotland to encompass all of what is now Scotland became common in the Late Middle Ages . Prehistoric Scotland , before the arrival of the Roman Empire , was culturally divergent. Repeated glaciations, which covered the entire land mass of modern Scotland, destroyed any traces of human habitation that may have existed before

4773-715: The River Tay , flows for a distance of 117 miles (188 km). The whole of Scotland was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages and the landscape is much affected by glaciation. From a geological perspective, the country has three main sub-divisions: the Highlands and Islands, the Central Lowlands, and the Southern Uplands. The Highlands and Islands lie to the north and west of

4902-657: The Roman army in the Severan campaign were placed near those established by Agricola and were clustered at the mouths of the glens in the Highlands, the Caledonians were again in revolt in 210–211 and these were overrun. To the Roman historians Tacitus and Cassius Dio , the Scottish Highlands and the area north of the River Forth was called Caledonia . According to Cassius Dio, the inhabitants of Caledonia were

5031-711: The Scots Confession , which signalled the Scottish Reformation 's sharp break from papal authority and Roman Catholic teaching. The Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to abdicate in 1567 . In 1603, James VI, King of Scots inherited the thrones of the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Ireland in the Union of the Crowns , and moved to London. This was a personal union as despite having

5160-485: The Skolithos borings in conjunction with other strain markers, such as quartz vein recrystallization, in order to approximate strain in the region. Using three-dimensional analysis of the strain markers, geologists inferred flattening of the region parallel to the thrust direction, stretching along the vertical strain direction and shortening perpendicular to the foliation of the lithology. The deformation history of

5289-441: The Wars of Scottish Independence , until Robert the Bruce was crowned king of Scotland in 1306. Victory at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 proved the Scots had regained control of their kingdom. In 1320 the world's first documented declaration of independence, the Declaration of Arbroath , won the support of Pope John XXII , leading to the legal recognition of Scottish sovereignty by the English Crown. A civil war between

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5418-428: The beaver and wild boar . Today, much of the remaining native Caledonian Forest lies within the Cairngorms National Park and remnants of the forest remain at 84 locations across Scotland. On the west coast, remnants of ancient Celtic Rainforest remain, particularly on the Taynish peninsula in Argyll , these forests are particularly rare due to high rates of deforestation throughout Scottish history. The flora of

5547-416: The rheological properties between the structure and the host rock are usually very similar, observations of the fossils are conducted with the assumption that they have deformed homogeneously, where the deformation forces are distributed evenly along the entire deformation zone. This is directly contradicted by the presence of folding and varying elongation measurements of the fossil at different locations in

5676-471: The 14th century is now a crown dependency outside of the United Kingdom; the island groups Orkney and Shetland , which were acquired from Norway in 1472; and Berwick-upon-Tweed , lost to England in 1482 The geographical centre of Scotland lies a few miles from the village of Newtonmore in Badenoch . Rising to 4,413 feet (1,345 m) above sea level, Scotland's highest point is the summit of Ben Nevis , in Lochaber , while Scotland's longest river,

5805-401: The 15th century. Scandinavian culture in the form of the Norn language survived for a lot longer than in the Hebrides, and would strongly influence the local Scots dialect on Shetland and Orkney . Later, a system of feudalism was consolidated, with both Anglo-Norman incomers and native Gaelic chieftains being granted land in exchange for serving the king. The relationship with England

5934-447: The 1880s by A. G. Nathorst and Joseph F. James comparing 'fucoids' to modern traces made it increasingly clear that most of the specimens identified as fossil fucoids were animal trails and burrows. True fossil fucoids are quite rare. Pseudofossils , which are not true fossils, should also not be confused with ichnofossils, which are true indications of prehistoric life. Charles Darwin 's The Formation of Vegetable Mould through

6063-415: The 1st century have been found as far north as the Moray Firth . By the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan ( r.  98–117 ), Roman control had lapsed to Britain south of a line between the River Tyne and the Solway Firth . Along this line, Trajan's successor Hadrian ( r.  117–138 ) erected Hadrian's Wall in northern England and the Limes Britannicus became the northern border of

6192-421: The Action of Worms is an example of a very early work on ichnology, describing bioturbation and, in particular, the burrowing of earthworms . Scotland – in Europe  (green & dark grey) – in the United Kingdom  (green) Scotland ( Scots : Scotland ; Scottish Gaelic : Alba ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom . It contains nearly one-third of

6321-493: The British. After 1945, Scotland's economic situation worsened due to overseas competition, inefficient industry, and industrial disputes. Only in recent decades has the country enjoyed something of a cultural and economic renaissance. Economic factors contributing to this recovery included a resurgent financial services industry, electronics manufacturing , (see Silicon Glen ), and the North Sea oil and gas industry. The introduction in 1989 by Margaret Thatcher's government of

6450-402: The Pictish language went extinct as its speakers shifted to Gaelic. From a base in eastern Scotland north of the River Forth and south of the River Spey , the kingdom expanded first southwards, into the former Northumbrian lands, and northwards into Moray . Around the turn of the millennium, there was a centralization in agricultural lands and the first towns began to be established. In

6579-458: The Roman Empire. The Roman influence on the southern part of the country was considerable, and they introduced Christianity to Scotland. The Antonine Wall was built from 142 at the order of Hadrian's successor Antoninus Pius ( r.  138–161 ), defending the Roman part of Scotland from the unadministered part of the island, north of a line between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth . The Roman invasion of Caledonia 208–210

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6708-405: The Scottish Enlightenment is traditionally considered to have concluded toward the end of the 18th century, disproportionately large Scottish contributions to British science and letters continued for another 50 years or more, thanks to such figures as the physicists James Clerk Maxwell and Lord Kelvin , and the engineers and inventors James Watt and William Murdoch , whose work was critical to

6837-423: The Scottish Parliament after the referendum, following cross-party talks in the Smith Commission . Since the 2014 referendum, events such as the UK leaving the European Union, despite a majority of voters in Scotland voting to remain a member, have led to calls for a second independence referendum . In 2022, the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain argued the case for the Scottish Government to hold another referendum on

6966-401: The Scottish economy. Campaigners for the union between Scotland and England believed that there would be economic advantages to Scotland as a result of the failed Darien scheme which left the Kingdom of Scotland bankrupt. Eventually however, with trade tariffs with England abolished, trade blossomed, especially with Colonial America . The clippers belonging to the Glasgow Tobacco Lords were

7095-494: The Southern Uplands is Merrick with an elevation of 843 m (2,766 ft). The Southern Uplands is home to Scotland's highest village, Wanlockhead (430 m or 1,411 ft above sea level). The climate of most of Scotland is temperate and oceanic , and tends to be very changeable. As it is warmed by the Gulf Stream from the Atlantic, it has much milder winters (but cooler, wetter summers) than areas on similar latitudes, such as Labrador , southern Scandinavia ,

7224-403: The United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjacent islands , principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles . To the south-east, Scotland has its only land border , which is 96 miles (154 km) long and shared with England ; the country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west,

7353-451: The area fluctuated over a rather short period. The first Roman incursion into Scotland was in 79 AD, when Agricola invaded Scotland; he defeated a Caledonian army at the Battle of Mons Graupius in 83 AD. After the Roman victory, Roman forts were briefly set along the Gask Ridge close to the Highland line , but by three years after the battle, the Roman armies had withdrawn to the Southern Uplands . Remains of Roman forts established in

7482-442: The army and navy, trade, economics, colonial enterprises and other areas across the nascent British Empire . Historian Neil Davidson notes "after 1746 there was an entirely new level of participation by Scots in political life, particularly outside Scotland." Davidson also states "far from being 'peripheral' to the British economy, Scotland – or more precisely, the Lowlands – lay at its core." The Scottish Reform Act 1832 increased

7611-424: The bed. In zones where tectonic deformation is intense, such as thrust zones, the deformed Skolithos burrow can be used to evaluate the local strain on the region. This technique is performed by comparing the angle between the specimen and the bedding surface, with the original 90 geometric relationship. Since the trace fossil shares similar material properties to the surrounding matrix, they are inferred to deform by

7740-508: The central belt of the country. Perhaps the most significant air raid in Scotland was the Clydebank Blitz of March 1941, which intended to destroy naval shipbuilding in the area. 528 people were killed and 4,000 homes totally destroyed. Perhaps Scotland's most unusual wartime episode occurred in 1941 when Rudolf Hess flew to Renfrewshire, possibly intending to broker a peace deal through the Duke of Hamilton . Before his departure from Germany, Hess had given his adjutant, Karlheinz Pintsch ,

7869-399: The coastline consist of machair , a low-lying dune pasture land. The Central Lowlands is a rift valley mainly comprising Paleozoic formations. Many of these sediments have economic significance for it is here that the coal and iron-bearing rocks that fuelled Scotland's industrial revolution are found. This area has also experienced intense volcanism, Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh being

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7998-428: The correct assumption of the deformation mechanism and original measurements. Trace fossil Trace fossils may consist of physical impressions made on or in the substrate by an organism. For example, burrows , borings ( bioerosion ), urolites (erosion caused by evacuation of liquid wastes), footprints , feeding marks, and root cavities may all be trace fossils. The term in its broadest sense also includes

8127-444: The country is varied incorporating both deciduous and coniferous woodland as well as moorland and tundra species. Large-scale commercial tree planting and management of upland moorland habitat for the grazing of sheep and field sport activities like deer stalking and driven grouse shooting impacts the distribution of indigenous plants and animals. The UK's tallest tree is a grand fir planted beside Loch Fyne , Argyll in

8256-433: The early 19th century, who labeled the structure as the “oldest fossil in the state”. He named the trace fossil Skolithos , meaning “worm-stone”, suggesting its morphologic similarity to a worm. James Hall published the first illustrations of Haldeman’s discovery in his journal Paleontology of New York Volume I (1847), changing the name to Scolithus . 1943 marked the revival of Haldeman’s research as Benjamin Howell reported

8385-414: The end of long pathways of trace fossils matching their shape. The feeding was performed in a mechanical way, supposedly the ventral side of body these organisms was covered with cilia . The potential mollusc related Kimberella is associated with scratch marks, perhaps formed by a radula , further traces from 555  million years ago appear to imply active crawling or burrowing activity. As

8514-462: The end of the 14th century through the Scottish Renaissance to the Reformation , despite the effects of the Black Death in 1349 and increasing division between Highlands and Lowlands . Multiple truces reduced warfare on the southern border. The Treaty of Perpetual Peace was signed in 1502 by James IV of Scotland and Henry VII of England . James married Henry's daughter, Margaret Tudor . James invaded England in support of France under

8643-449: The environmental conditions in which the trace-making organisms dwelt. Water depth, salinity , hardness of the substrate, dissolved oxygen, and many other environmental conditions control which organisms can inhabit particular areas. Therefore, by documenting and researching changes in ichnofacies, scientists can interpret changes in environment. For example, ichnological studies have been utilized across mass extinction boundaries, such as

8772-497: The execution of the Scottish king at Whitehall in 1649, amid the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and its events in Scotland , Oliver Cromwell , the victorious Lord Protector , imposed the British Isles' first written constitution – the Instrument of Government – on Scotland in 1652 as part of the republican Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland . The Protectorate Parliament was the first Westminster parliament to include representatives nominally from Scotland. The monarchy of

8901-400: The extent of the strain marking properties of Skolithos . Skolithos linearis , found in the Blue Ridge Mountain region, is the oldest known trace fossil in Virginia . Trypanites is superficially similar in form but is a boring excavated in hard substrates, and lacks the diagnostic lining of Skolithos . The structure of the trace fossil is cylindrical and elongated in shape, usually at

9030-426: The family unit and had sharp divisions in wealth, although the vast majority were poor and worked full-time in subsistence agriculture . The Picts kept slaves (mostly captured in war) through the ninth century. Gaelic influence over Pictland and Northumbria was facilitated by the large number of Gaelic-speaking clerics working as missionaries. Operating in the sixth century on the island of Iona , Saint Columba

9159-512: The fastest ships on the route to Virginia . Until the American War of Independence in 1776, Glasgow was the world's premier tobacco port, dominating world trade. The disparity between the wealth of the merchant classes of the Scottish Lowlands and the ancient clans of the Scottish Highlands grew, amplifying centuries of division. In the Highlands, clan chiefs gradually started to think of themselves more as commercial landlords than leaders of their people. These social and economic changes included

9288-618: The first animals that appear to have been fully terrestrial dates to the Cambro-Ordovician and is in the form of trackways. Trackways from the Ordovician Tumblagooda sandstone allow the behaviour of other terrestrial organisms to be determined. The trackway Protichnites represents traces from an amphibious or terrestrial arthropod going back to the Cambrian. Less ambiguous than the above ichnogenera, are

9417-400: The first appearance of the trace fossil Treptichnus pedum . Trace fossils have a further utility, as many appear before the organism thought to create them, extending their stratigraphic range. Ichnofacies are assemblages of individual trace fossils that occur repeatedly in time and space. Palaeontologist Adolf Seilacher pioneered the concept of ichnofacies, whereby geologists infer

9546-669: The first phase of the Highland Clearances and, ultimately, the demise of clanship. The Scottish Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution turned Scotland into an intellectual, commercial and industrial powerhouse — so much so Voltaire said "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation." With the demise of Jacobitism and the advent of the Union, thousands of Scots, mainly Lowlanders, took up numerous positions of power in politics, civil service,

9675-683: The first three Scottish parliament elections. The pro- independence Scottish National Party led by Alex Salmond achieved an overall majority in the 2011 election , winning 69 of the 129 seats available. The success of the SNP in achieving a majority in the Scottish Parliament paved the way for the September 2014 referendum on Scottish independence . The majority voted against the proposition, with 55% voting no to independence. More powers, particularly concerning taxation, were devolved to

9804-403: The first villages around 6,000 years ago. The well-preserved village of Skara Brae on the mainland of Orkney dates from this period. Neolithic habitation, burial, and ritual sites are particularly common and well preserved in the Northern Isles and Western Isles , where a lack of trees led to most structures being built of local stone. Evidence of sophisticated pre-Christian belief systems

9933-427: The front limbs touched the ground or not. However, most trace fossils are rather less conspicuous, such as the trails made by segmented worms or nematodes . Some of these worm castings are the only fossil record we have of these soft-bodied creatures. Fossil footprints made by tetrapod vertebrates are difficult to identify to a particular species of animal, but they can provide valuable information such as

10062-403: The grain size and depositional facies both contributing to the better preservation. They may also be found in shales and limestones. Trace fossils are generally difficult or impossible to assign to a specific maker. Only in very rare occasions are the makers found in association with their tracks. Further, entirely different organisms may produce identical tracks. Therefore, conventional taxonomy

10191-414: The imposition of royal authority on the western Highland clans. The 1609 Statutes of Iona compelled the cultural integration of Hebridean clan leaders. In 1641 and again in 1643, the Parliament of Scotland unsuccessfully sought a union with England which was "federative" and not "incorporating", in which Scotland would retain a separate parliament. The issue of union split the parliament in 1648. After

10320-777: The industrial districts switched to Labour by 1922, with a base among the Irish Catholic working-class districts. Women were especially active in building neighbourhood solidarity on housing issues. The "Reds" operated within the Labour Party with little influence in Parliament and the mood changed to passive despair by the late 1920s. During the Second World War, Scotland was targeted by Nazi Germany largely due to its factories, shipyards, and coal mines. Cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh were targeted by German bombers, as were smaller towns mostly located in

10449-628: The issue, with the Supreme Court later ruling against the argument. Following the Supreme Court decision, the Scottish Government stated that it wished to make amendments to the Scotland Act 1998 that would allow a referendum to be held in 2023. The mainland of Scotland comprises the northern third of the land mass of the island of Great Britain, which lies off the northwest coast of Continental Europe . The total area

10578-486: The life position of the organism that made them. Because identical fossils can be created by a range of different organisms, trace fossils can only reliably inform us of two things: the consistency of the sediment at the time of its deposition, and the energy level of the depositional environment . Attempts to deduce such traits as whether a deposit is marine or non-marine have been made, but shown to be unreliable. Trace fossils provide us with indirect evidence of life in

10707-435: The most spectacular trace fossils are the huge, three-toed footprints produced by dinosaurs and related archosaurs . These imprints give scientists clues as to how these animals lived. Although the skeletons of dinosaurs can be reconstructed, only their fossilized footprints can determine exactly how they stood and walked. Such tracks can tell much about the gait of the animal which made them, what its stride was, and whether

10836-465: The most widely spoken languages in the country , existing on a dialect continuum with each other. Scottish Gaelic speakers can be found all over Scotland, however the language is largely spoken natively by communities within the Hebrides . The number of Gaelic speakers numbers less than 2% of the total population, though state-sponsored revitalisation attempts have led to a growing community of second language speakers. The mainland of Scotland

10965-417: The mylonite belt which is characterized by large translation of thrust faults, can be deduced from the apparent clockwise rotation of these structures. Assuming simple shear, the westward displacement of the 800 m thick Moine Thrust mylonites at Loch Eriboll where the average shear strain determined using the trace fossils is approximately 10, was calculated to be about 8 km. Assumptions regarding

11094-405: The native Scots pine forest exist and within these areas the Scottish crossbill , the UK's only endemic bird species and vertebrate , can be found alongside capercaillie , Scottish wildcat , red squirrel and pine marten . Various animals have been re-introduced, including the white-tailed eagle in 1975, the red kite in the 1980s, and there have been experimental projects involving

11223-464: The new Kingdom of Great Britain , with the Parliament of Scotland subsumed into the Parliament of Great Britain . In 1999, a Scottish Parliament was re-established, and has devolved authority over many areas of domestic policy . The country has its own distinct legal system , education system and religious history , which have all contributed to the continuation of Scottish culture and national identity . Scottish English and Scots are

11352-412: The ninth century, the Norse threat allowed a Gael named Kenneth I (Cináed mac Ailpín) to seize power over Pictland, establishing a royal dynasty to which the modern monarchs trace their lineage, and marking the beginning of the end of Pictish culture. The kingdom of Cináed and his descendants, called Alba, was Gaelic in character but existed on the same area as Pictland. By the end of the tenth century,

11481-462: The number of Scottish MPs and widened the franchise to include more of the middle classes. From the mid-century, there were increasing calls for Home Rule for Scotland and the post of Secretary of State for Scotland was revived. Towards the end of the century prime ministers of Scottish descent included William Gladstone , and the Earl of Rosebery . In the late 19th century the growing importance of

11610-636: The occurrence of the trace fossil in the Hardyston Formation in Pennsylvania. Howell restored the name Skolithos in accordance with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature . In the 1960s structural geologists discovered the use of the trace fossil as a strain marker by which it could record rotation and strain in highly deformed rocks. This led to a series of experiments that extend to present-day analyses to determine

11739-471: The past , such as the footprints, tracks, burrows, borings, and feces left behind by animals, rather than the preserved remains of the body of the actual animal itself. Unlike most other fossils, which are produced only after the death of the organism concerned, trace fossils provide us with a record of the activity of an organism during its lifetime. Unlike body fossils, which can be transported far away from where an individual organism lived, trace fossils record

11868-432: The periodic fluctuation of water is an important factor in the formation of this structure.  This periodic water fluctuation corresponds to tidal activity in shallow marine environments, but also occurs over longer time intervals in alluvial deposits. The ichnogenus Skolithos was first described as a subgenus of the supposed seaweed Fucoides in 1840, by Samuel Stehman Haldeman , a renowned Pennsylvania naturalist in

11997-411: The plane of deposition, and size of the fossil’s aperture. Funnel-shaped apertures of Skolithos reflect the filter- and suspension-feeding habits of burrowing genera. The high intensity of bioturbation of these organisms indicate the shallow water paleoenvironment in which the Skolithos burrows formed shortly after the deposition of the bed. Unstrained Skolithos structures are normal to the plane of

12126-640: The political support for the exiled Catholic Stuart dynasty, remained a threat to the security of the British state under the Protestant House of Orange and the succeeding House of Hanover until the defeat of the Jacobite rising of 1745 . In 1698, the Company of Scotland attempted a project to secure a trading colony on the Isthmus of Panama . Almost every Scottish landowner who had money to spare

12255-568: The presence of easily fossilized hard parts, which are rare during the Cambrian. Whilst exact assignment of trace fossils to their makers is difficult, the trace fossil record seems to indicate that at the very least, large, bottom-dwelling, bilaterally symmetrical organisms were rapidly diversifying during the early Cambrian . Further, less rapid diversification occurred since, and many traces have been converged upon independently by unrelated groups of organisms. Trace fossils also provide our earliest evidence of animal life on land. Evidence of

12384-470: The present and is found throughout the world. They occur in sediments and sedimentary rocks , primarily sands and sandstones . They are typically marine in origin, and are commonly associated with high-energy environments close to the shoreline. They have also been reported from freshwater lacustrine settings, but have rarely been described from carbonate rocks . Vertical Skolithos can also occur in alluvial sediments such as braided river deposits, where

12513-516: The remains of other organic material produced by an organism; for example coprolites (fossilized droppings) or chemical markers (sedimentological structures produced by biological means; for example, the formation of stromatolites ). However, most sedimentary structures (for example those produced by empty shells rolling along the sea floor) are not produced through the behaviour of an organism and thus are not considered trace fossils. The study of traces – ichnology – divides into paleoichnology , or

12642-577: The remnant of a once much larger volcano. This area is relatively low-lying, although even here hills such as the Ochils and Campsie Fells are rarely far from view. The Southern Uplands is a range of hills almost 125 miles (200 km) long, interspersed with broad valleys. They lie south of a second fault line (the Southern Uplands fault) that runs from Girvan to Dunbar . The geological foundations largely comprise Silurian deposits laid down some 400 to 500 million years ago. The high point of

12771-473: The salinity and turbidity of the water column. Some trace fossils can be used as local index fossils , to date the rocks in which they are found, such as the burrow Arenicolites franconicus which occurs only in a 4 cm ( 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) layer of the Triassic Muschelkalk epoch, throughout wide areas in southern Germany . The base of the Cambrian period is defined by

12900-403: The same deformation zone. Deformation mechanisms are difficult to distinguish using this strain marker, as the thinning and flattening of the highly deformed rocks where they are found, cannot necessarily be attributed to pure shear since the planes may have simply rotated near parallel to the shear plane. It is therefore only possible to make accurate strain determinations of the host rock provided

13029-463: The same mechanism. This technique can be applied in areas where other strain markers may have been destroyed by tectonic activity or cataclastic flow. Unit strain ɛ can also be defined using the elongation of the structure: ε = ( ℓ − ℓ ∘ ) ÷ ℓ ∘ {\displaystyle \varepsilon =(\ell -\ell \circ )\div \ell \circ } where •     ɛ

13158-467: The same monarch the kingdoms retained their separate parliaments, laws and other institutions. The first Union Jack was designed at James's behest, to be flown in addition to the St Andrew's Cross on Scots vessels at sea. James VI and I intended to create a single kingdom of Great Britain, but was thwarted in his attempt to do so by the Parliament of England , which supported the wrecking proposal that

13287-610: The south-western peninsula of Kintyre ; Norway is 190 miles (305 km) to the northeast and the Faroe Islands , 168 miles (270 km) to the north. The territorial extent of Scotland is generally that established by the 1237 Treaty of York between Scotland and the Kingdom of England and the 1266 Treaty of Perth between Scotland and Norway. Important exceptions include the Isle of Man , which having been lost to England in

13416-532: The speed, weight, and behavior of the organism that made them. Such trace fossils are formed when amphibians , reptiles , mammals , or birds walked across soft (probably wet) mud or sand which later hardened sufficiently to retain the impressions before the next layer of sediment was deposited. Some fossils can even provide details of how wet the sand was when they were being produced, and hence allow estimation of paleo-wind directions. Assemblages of trace fossils occur at certain water depths, and can also reflect

13545-420: The state of a sedimentary system at its time of deposition by noting the fossils in association with one another. The principal ichnofacies recognized in the literature are Skolithos , Cruziana , Zoophycos , Nereites , Glossifungites, Scoyenia , Trypanites , Teredolites , and Psilonichus . These assemblages are not random. In fact, the assortment of fossils preserved are primarily constrained by

13674-532: The structures made by organisms in recent sediment have only been studied in a limited range of environments, mostly in coastal areas, including tidal flats . The earliest complex trace fossils, not including microbial traces such as stromatolites , date to 2,000 to 1,800 million years ago . This is far too early for them to have an animal origin, and they are thought to have been formed by amoebae . Putative "burrows" dating as far back as 1,100 million years may have been made by animals which fed on

13803-781: The study of trace fossils, and neoichnology , the study of modern traces. Ichnological science offers many challenges, as most traces reflect the behaviour – not the biological affinity – of their makers. Accordingly, researchers classify trace fossils into form genera based on their appearance and on the implied behaviour, or ethology , of their makers. Traces are better known in their fossilized form than in modern sediments. This makes it difficult to interpret some fossils by comparing them with modern traces, even though they may be extant or even common. The main difficulties in accessing extant burrows stem from finding them in consolidated sediment, and being able to access those formed in deeper water. Trace fossils are best preserved in sandstones;

13932-485: The technological developments of the Industrial Revolution throughout Britain. In literature, the most successful figure of the mid-19th century was Walter Scott . His first prose work, Waverley in 1814, is often called the first historical novel. It launched a highly successful career that probably more than any other helped define and popularise Scottish cultural identity. In the late 19th century,

14061-510: The term is also applied to the many saltwater inlets along the country's deeply indented western coastline. The geography of the many islands is varied. Some, such as Mull and Skye , are noted for their mountainous terrain, while the likes of Tiree and Coll are much flatter. Scotland comes from Scoti , the Latin name for the Gaels . Philip Freeman has speculated on the likelihood of

14190-805: The terms of the Auld Alliance and became the last monarch in Great Britain to die in battle, at Flodden in 1513. The war with England during the minority years of Mary, Queen of Scots between 1543 and 1551 is known as the Rough Wooing . In 1560, the Treaty of Edinburgh brought an end to the Siege of Leith and recognized the Protestant Elizabeth I as Queen of England. The Parliament of Scotland met and immediately adopted

14319-681: The threat of an English invasion, played a leading role in convincing the Scots elite to back a union with England. On 22 July 1706, the Treaty of Union was agreed between representatives of the Scots Parliament and the Parliament of England . The following year, twin Acts of Union were passed by both parliaments to create the united Kingdom of Great Britain with effect from 1 May 1707 with popular opposition and anti-union riots in Edinburgh , Glasgow , and elsewhere. The union also created

14448-425: The traces and burrows basically are horizontal on or just below the seafloor surface. Such traces must have been made by motile organisms with heads, which would probably have been bilateran animals . The traces observed imply simple behaviour, and point to organisms feeding above the surface and burrowing for protection from predators. Contrary to widely circulated opinion that Ediacaran burrows are only horizontal

14577-459: The traces left behind by invertebrates such as Hibbertopterus , a giant "sea scorpion" or eurypterid of the early Paleozoic era. This marine arthropod produced a spectacular track preserved in Scotland. Bioerosion through time has produced a magnificent record of borings, gnawings, scratchings and scrapings on hard substrates. These trace fossils are usually divided into macroborings and microborings. Bioerosion intensity and diversity

14706-484: The track of tetrapod, dated to 400 million years, is amongst the oldest evidence of a vertebrate walking on land. Important human trace fossils are the Laetoli ( Tanzania ) footprints, imprinted in volcanic ash 3.7 Ma (million years ago) – probably by an early Australopithecus . Trace fossils are not body casts. The Ediacara biota , for instance, primarily comprises the casts of organisms in sediment. Similarly,

14835-694: The twelfth and thirteenth centuries, much of Scotland was under the control of a single ruler. Initially, Gaelic culture predominated, but immigrants from France, England and Flanders steadily created a more diverse society, with the Gaelic language starting to be replaced by Scots; and a modern nation-state emerged from this. At the end of this period, war against England started the growth of a Scottish national consciousness . David I (1124–1153) and his successors centralised royal power and united mainland Scotland, capturing regions such as Moray, Galloway , and Caithness , although he could not extend his power over

14964-399: The type of environment an animal actually inhabited and thus can provide a more accurate palaeoecological sample than body fossils. Trace fossils are formed by organisms performing the functions of their everyday life, such as walking, crawling, burrowing, boring, or feeding. Tetrapod footprints, worm trails and the burrows made by clams and arthropods are all trace fossils. Perhaps

15093-480: The undeformed burrow and its geometric relationship cannot directly be determined, and only estimated. While it is common for Skolithos burrows to form normal to the deposition plane, this is not always true, in which case, the ideal, undeformed state can no longer be used as a reference orientation. Shallow depositional sediments are also susceptible to damage by erosion and tectonic stress forces, which can influence average measurements and geometric orientations. Since

15222-482: The undersides of microbial mats, which would have shielded them from a chemically unpleasant ocean; however their uneven width and tapering ends make a biological origin so difficult to defend that even the original author no longer believes they are authentic. The first evidence of burrowing which is widely accepted dates to the Ediacaran (Vendian) period, around 560  million years ago . During this period

15351-546: The vertical burrows Skolithos are also known. The producers of burrows Skolithos declinatus from the Vendian (Ediacaran) beds in Russia with date 555.3  million years ago have not been identified; they might have been filter feeders subsisting on the nutrients from the suspension. The density of these burrows is up to 245 burrows/dm . Some Ediacaran trace fossils have been found directly associated with body fossils. Yorgia and Dickinsonia are often found at

15480-418: The wettest, with annual rainfall in a few places exceeding 3,000 mm (120 in). In comparison, much of lowland Scotland receives less than 800 mm (31 in) annually. Heavy snowfall is not common in the lowlands, but becomes more common with altitude. Braemar has an average of 59 snow days per year, while many coastal areas average fewer than 10 days of lying snow per year. Scotland's wildlife

15609-488: The wooden sailing vessels of both the merchant fleets and the battle fleets of the world. It became the world's pre-eminent shipbuilding centre. The industrial developments, while they brought work and wealth, were so rapid that housing, town planning, and provision for public health did not keep pace with them, and for a time living conditions in some of the towns and cities were notoriously bad, with overcrowding, high infant mortality, and growing rates of tuberculosis. While

15738-881: The working classes was marked by Keir Hardie 's success in the Mid Lanarkshire by-election, 1888 , leading to the foundation of the Scottish Labour Party , which was absorbed into the Independent Labour Party in 1895, with Hardie as its first leader. Glasgow became one of the largest cities in the world and known as "the Second City of the Empire " after London. After 1860, the Clydeside shipyards specialised in steamships made of iron (after 1870, made of steel), which rapidly replaced

15867-574: Was 35.1 °C (95.2 °F) at Floors Castle , Scottish Borders on 19 July 2022. The west of Scotland is usually warmer than the east, owing to the influence of Atlantic ocean currents and the colder surface temperatures of the North Sea . Tiree , in the Inner Hebrides, is one of the sunniest places in the country: it had more than 300 hours of sunshine in May 1975. Rainfall varies widely across Scotland. The western highlands of Scotland are

15996-445: Was a prominent supporter for the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England had changed his position on the treaty, and unsuccessfully advocated for the treaty to be reversed. The deposed Jacobite Stuart claimants had remained popular in the Highlands and north-east, particularly among non- Presbyterians , including Roman Catholics and Episcopalian Protestants . Two major Jacobite risings launched in 1715 and 1745 failed to remove

16125-598: Was complex during this period: Scottish kings tried several times, sometimes with success, to exploit English political turmoil, followed by the longest period of peace between Scotland and England in the mediaeval period: from 1217–1296. The death of Alexander III in March 1286 broke the succession line of Scotland's kings. Edward I of England arbitrated between various claimants for the Scottish crown. In return for surrendering Scotland's nominal independence, John Balliol

16254-399: Was one of the earliest and best-known missionaries. The Vikings began to raid Scotland in the eighth century. Although the raiders sought slaves and luxury items, their main motivation was to acquire land. The oldest Norse settlements were in northwest Scotland, but they eventually conquered many areas along the coast. Old Norse entirely displaced Pictish in the Northern Isles . In

16383-477: Was pronounced king in 1292. In 1294, Balliol and other Scottish lords refused Edward's demands to serve in his army against the French. Scotland and France sealed a treaty on 23 October 1295, known as the Auld Alliance . War ensued, and John was deposed by Edward who took personal control of Scotland. Andrew Moray and William Wallace initially emerged as the principal leaders of the resistance to English rule in

16512-438: Was undertaken by emperors of the imperial Severan dynasty in response to the breaking of a treaty by the Caledonians in 197, but permanent conquest of the whole of Great Britain was forestalled by Roman forces becoming bogged down in punishing guerrilla warfare and the death of the senior emperor Septimius Severus ( r.  193–211 ) at Eboracum ( York ) after he was taken ill while on campaign. Although forts erected by

16641-819: Was withdrawn from the island altogether by the early 5th century, resulting in the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain and the immigration of the Saxons to southeastern Scotland and the rest of eastern Great Britain. Beginning in the sixth century, the area that is now Scotland was divided into three areas: Pictland , a patchwork of small lordships in central Scotland; the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria , which had conquered southeastern Scotland; and Dál Riata , which included territory in western Scotland and northern Ireland, and spread Gaelic language and culture into Scotland. These societies were based on

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