Pre‐improvement rural settlement in Scotland: Progress and prospects

This paper examines recent developments in the study of the historical geography of rural settlement in Scotland from early medieval times until the onset of improvement in the later eighteenth century. Advances in theoretical approaches and practical techniques are discussed, and the significance of recent landscape survey work is emphasised. The need to link such surveys with more detailed excavation of sites, the better use of surviving historical sources and more interdisciplinary research is urged.