Margaret Gowen & Company was asked by AOC Scotland to examine the invertebrate remains from a Neolithic platform at Parks of Garden, Stirlingshire, Scotland. AOC Scotland had been commissioned by Historic Scotland to excavate this fully dated Neolithic wooden structure.

The site consisted of a series of parallel roundwood timbers and planks, with associated sub-structure, and was interpreted as a platform. Brushwood appears to have been laid at different locations, possibly to provide a cushioned working surface. Calibrated radiocarbon dates from four samples of birch brushwood (part of the platform structure) suggest that the construction of the platform occurred around 3000 BC.

A series of interpretative 'blocks' was identified prior to the post-excavation programme. Eleven samples were selected from various contexts throughout these blocks for analysis of plant and insect remains. Five of the samples were taken from the peat profile below the platform (Block 1), four from different areas of the platform surface (Block 2) and two from above the platform (Block 4), after abandonment. Each was carefully chosen to help reconstruct the local environment before the platform was built, during its use, and after it was abandoned, possibly indicating reasons why it was abandoned.

Despite the difference in profiles of the rank order curves of each context and the slight increase in the index of diversity through the profile, overall, the beetle assemblages included a limited range of species that were common in most of the contexts. They suggested that there was a gradual change from more eurytropic fen conditions to a woodland margin habitat, where a slightly acidic peat formed. However, as a result of later farming activity and drainage of the bog, development of true poorly humified raised bog peat with its attendant reduction in species richness was not reflected in this profile.

Insect assemblages from other platform sites such as the Neolithic Baker platform in the Somerset Levels and the Bronze Age platform at Flag Fen, in eastern England, clearly show some human influence, mostly via domesticated animals, in the form of large numbers of dung beetles (Robinson 1992). However, Robinson has concluded that the platform at Flag Fen could not have been occupied, even temporarily, by buildings, in view of the lack of large numbers of the woodworm beetle Anobium punctatum, beetles of the family Lathridiidae and other synanthropic insects seen at the Iron Age Meare Lake Village site in the Somerset Levels (Girling 1979). At that latter site, the assemblage very much reflected the group of insects commonly known as 'urban fauna' (Kenward and Alison 1994). Indeed, in the case of the Flag Fen platform, the only hint of human activity was the dung beetles. Clearly, the platform at Parks of Garden does not display any of these key synanthropic elements. Therefore, occupation of the platform, which seemed unlikely given the lack of finds during excavations, seems even more unlikely on the basis of the insect assemblages recovered. The plant remains lacking in taxa suggesting human food or raw materialsūtell a similar story.

A feature common to all three sites (Flag Fen, Meare Lake and Parks of Garden) is the large number of aquatic and marsh indicators recovered from the platform surfaces. Both Robinson (1992) and Girling (1979) have concluded that pools of water were collecting on the platform surface at Flag Fen and Meare Lake, and it would seem that this was also the case with the platform at Parks of Garden.

There are few, if any, indicators of a climate different from that of the present day through the peat profile. Only one beetle recovered is restricted in its range today-the elaterid Selatosomus bipustulatus, which is no longer recorded in Scotland and which is very much restricted to (and possibly declining in) areas of south, southeast and southwest England and Wales (Hyman 1992). Other wood borers, such as Polydrusus mollis and Cerylon fagi, are found in southern Scotland but are restricted in their occurrence. The water beetle Anacaena bipustulata also has a more southerly restriction today and is found only in England and Wales (Hyman 1992). In contrast, Rhyncolus ater has a more northerly range and is commonly found in Scotland today but is rarer in southern England. The restriction of wood-dependant species may be related more to forest clearance and forest management than subtle changes in climatic conditions. Most of these species are borers of deadwood, and 'tidier' forest practices have led to many species becoming highly restricted in their distribution and even extinct. This phenomenon has been demonstrated at Thorne Moors (Buckland 1979) and the Somerset Levels (Girling 1984) and by recent findings from Derryville Bog in Ireland (Reilly 1999).

Limited information was derived from the insect assemblages in terms of climate and human activity (although the lack of evidence for the latter is significant), but they provided a useful definition of the local environment and reaffirmed the initial findings of the archaeological excavation. Comparisons with similar sites in Scotland would be very productive in the future, as insect assemblages from other sites have demonstrated differences in the function and uses of platforms.

One possible use of the platform may have been as a hide for hunting on the open mire. Similar structures have been built on mires in several parts of Britain, including Glasson Moss, Cumbria and Tregaron Bog (Cors Caron), Wales. At Tregaron, the remains of small platforms used for hunting date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and are now visible as patches of disturbed vegetation. Molinia caerulea (purple moor grass) is a common invader of the mire surface where the platforms once stood (personal communication site warden at Cors Caron NNR). There is no evidence for Molinia caerulea in the Parks of Garden samples, but the remains of this plant may have disappeared from the record because it is less resistant to decay than other mire species such as cotton grass.