Discusses the potential of subfossil Scots pine for chronology building and palaeoclimatic reconstruction in the Rannoch Moor area of Scotland. Although the problems of generally short ring sequences, locally absent rings, greatly compressed growth, and lobate growth hinder attempts to build chronologies, sufficient material exists to offer scope for environmental reconstructions. Pollen analyses show that pine were probably present in the Rannoch area continuously at low altitudes from ca. 6500 BP to ca. 3000 BP, and occurred at higher altitudes in two distinct phases within this period.