The Stone Age itself had three phases: the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. The word ‘lithic’ comes from the Greek word for ‘rock’, and is used to mean cultures which used stone tools.

Paleolithic or Old Stone Age – in Scotland, this dates from 14,000 to 12,800, as the Ice Age was ending. Before this, the Highlands were completely covered in ice sheets and glaciers. These early people lived in small groups and were nomadic, meaning they did not settle but were constantly moving to find food. They used simple stone tools, sometimes just broken pebbles, as they hunted and gathered to stay alive. Caves were used as shelters.

Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age – from 12,800 to 6,100 years ago. This is the earliest era of human life which we have evidence for in Lochaber. These people lived almost entirely along our coast; hunting, gathering and fishing to survive.

Ancient ‘shell middens’ have been found here. These look like rocks at first, but are literally rubbish heaps – people ate shellfish and threw away the shells.

As well as stone, Mesolithic people used bone tools, sometimes made from antlers of deer. Fish could be caught using bone harpoons, carved into a jagged shape.

Neolithic or Late Stone Age – from 6,100 to 4,500 years ago. This was a time of great change. For the first time, people began farming. Crops were sown and animals kept. This meant that there could be permanent settlements – the first villages. Crops were sown and animals kept.

Neolithic homes were usually huts made of wood. Elsewhere in Scotland, stone could be used where wood was scarce, such as at Skara Brae on Orkney, a wonderfully preserved site of Neolithic stone dwellings.

People began to use flint tools as well. Flint is a very hard, glass-like stone which can be ‘knapped’ – skillfully chipped into shapes. The earliest flint blades were used for scraping animal hides, for clothing and dwellings. Then larger blades were made into axes for cutting wood, so tools and weapons could have wooden handles. Flint arrowheads tell us that bows and arrows were used for hunting. Beautifully shaped stone hand-axes have been found in Lochaber, made from different types of rock.

Stone circles and standing stones, found throughout the Highlands, are from Neolithic times. They are remains of an ancient culture, perhaps used for religious or ceremonial purposes.

The Bronze Age dates from 4,500 to 2,800 years ago. In this era, the skill of metalworking spread from Ireland and Europe. Bronze was used for tools, jewellery and weapons, sometimes with beautiful designs. Sword blades were made in a distinctive ‘leaf’ shape.

Other materials such as gold, amber or jet were used to make armlets, anklets, necklaces, and ear pendants.

The ‘Beaker People’ migrated from mainland Europe to Scotland. This culture is associated with decorative earthenware pots called ‘beakers’. These pots were often buried with their dead.

Bronze Age people lived in ‘roundhouses’. These were round huts made of stone and earth, with a thatched roof. A bronze age roundhouse was excavated on the Isle of Canna in Lochaber.

Clothing could now be made from woven cloth, made from plant or animal fibres. Plant fibres could include nettles, and animal fibre could be wool or hair from horses, cattle or even dogs.

This dates from 2,800 to 1,600 years ago. This was a time of great change in Scotland.

Iron came to replace bronze for making tools and weapons. Iron was harder, longer-lasting, and could take a much sharper edge.

More sophisticated types of buildings such as such as brochs (a round, fortified tower dwelling) and crannogs (artificial islands), as well as duns (hillforts), appeared around the Highlands.

Here in Lochaber, we have Dun Deardail hillfort, in Glen Nevis just outside Fort William. It was built around built around 500 BC. It is called a ‘vitrified’ fort, meaning that the stones were heated by a fire so hot that they melted, then set to a glass-like state. It is still a mystery as to whether this ‘vitrification’ was deliberate or accidental. It may have served first as a Celtic fort and then a Pictish citadel.

There were different peoples living in Scotland in this era.

This was also the time of Roman occupation in England and parts of southern Scotland, but the Romans had no presence in Lochaber. However, the arrival of Romans, around AD 70, marked the beginning of written records, so this is where “prehistory” ends in Lochaber. The Romans retreated from Scotland to Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England in AD 165.

The Picts were an iron age people who lived in North and East Scotland. There is still much to be discovered about the Picts, with disagreement among scholars. They likely spoke an ancient Celtic language related to Welsh, before Gaelic became widespread. They were an artistic people who left behind elaborate stone carvings. Their name comes from a Latin word: ‘picti’ meaning ‘painted people’. This is because they were said to paint patterns on their bodies with woad, a blue dye.

Established in the 5th century AD, the Celtic kingdom of Dalriada spanned the Irish Sea, including Argyll and Lochaber in Scotland, and Antrim in the north of Ireland. It was the Gaelic clans of this region who were said to have given Scotland its name – the word ‘Scot’ coming from Scoti, the Latin name given by the Romans.

The Dalriadan Celts are said to have brought Christianity and Gaelic with them, although this view is disputed by some archaeologists.

Eventually, the Picts and Scots were merged into one people. Later on, in the 8th century, Dalriada came under Pictish rule, and, a century later, Kenneth MacAlpin became King of both Dalriada and the Picts. King Kenneth 1st is considered to be the founder of Scotland.