Before Man Great ice sheets
came and went, one after the other, sculpting Fife’s distinctive landscape.
4th Glacial Epoch During
the 4th glacial era, the land was forced downwards under the weight of the ice.
Consequently, the sea level was 40m higher than it is at present. This resulted
in raised beaches - the highest of these were formed 30m above the present sea
level.
5th Glacial Epoch Raised
beaches were produced 20m above the present sea level. Man Appears
6th Glacial Epoch Raised
beaches were produced 10m above the present sea level. Worked “funts”, or earthworks,
have been found on this level. The ice and snow fields may have given rise to
Scotland’s ancient name, “Alba”, meaning the white land.
8000 BC The Middle Stone Age.
Nomadic, Mesolithic tribes of hunter-gatherers began to spread across Britain.
4000
BC The New Stone Age. Neolithic Man began to settle, and farming settlements
emerged, as Neolithic Man took advantage of the rich fertile till deposited by
the retreating glaciers. Kinshaldy Beach at Tentsmuir was once occupied by these
ancient people.
Left: Stone tool from Tentsmuir
c.4800 BC
2000 BC The Bronze Age.
Using local copper and imported tin, the Bronze Age people fabricated weapons,
tools, and beautiful jewelry. There are some “round barrow” burial sites in Fife,
which date from this period.
500 BC The Iron Age. Brythonic-speaking
Celts migrated from the southeast, bringing with them the ability to make weapons
and tools from iron. Right: A round barrow c. 1500BC
Their
first foothold was on the shore of the Tay estuary, from where they traveled inland
to the hill country of north Fife. Here, they covered the summits with forts,
some of which are still visible.
Left: An Iron Age spear head
82 AD The Fife landscape
was initially rich in gold, until the Romans landed and stripped much of the landscape
of this precious ore, as well as many of the region’s historical artifacts. Their
time in Fife was brief - as hordes of local savages quickly pushed the Romans
back beyond Hadrian’s Wall, the artificial border between Scotland and England.
3-400AD In the Roman city
of Constantinople, an angel appeared to the early Christian nobleman, Regulus,
instructing him to remove the relics of the apostle Andrew from the troubled city.
Left: a Roman coin c. 150 AD
Awaiting divine instruction on
where to rest the relics, Regulus traveled northwest in an ox cart. Eventually
he made landfall in the East Neuk of Fife.
Here, Regulus was instructed to
end his journey and lay to rest the three fingers, kneecap and arm bone that were
the only remains of Saint Andrew. Later, Regulus was
himself ordained a saint.
The original name of the settlement
at St Andrews was “Muckros”. This name was changed to “Kilrymont”, meaning “The
hill of the church of Regulus”, and later changed to St Andrews.
500 AD St Serf was born
in the early part of the 6th century. St Serf’s Island is on Loch Leven. At the
time, this island would have been part of Fortrenn, the older Pictish Kingdom
which later became Fife. St Serf, whose feast day is June 1st, was a contemporary
of St Kentigern.
Left:
A Crozier from the time of St Mungo.
527 AD St Kentigern (527-612),
also known as St Mungo, patron and 1st Bishop of Glasgow, was born in this year.
He was the illegitimate grandson of British king Urien.
His mother cast the infant Kentigern
adrift in a coracle and he landed at Culross where he was taken in by missionaries.
St Kentigern met St Columba with whom, the story says, he exchanged pastoral croziers
(religious staffs).
700 AD During the 8th century,
under the reign of King Angus, St Andrew becomes the patron saint of scotland.
