Today the Sea of Moyle constitutes a remote border zone between Scotland and Ireland, but in the past it comprised a coherent geographic region crossed by sea voyagers and linked by culture and kinship. The research reconstructs the landscape and environmental histories of small islands – six in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland (Islay, Colonsay, Mull, Iona, Lismore and Gigha), and two off the Irish north coast (Tory and Rathlin) – to examine the sustainability and resilience of complex socio-ecological systems and populations over time. During the timeframe under investigation, the islands experienced substantial changes in population – including in- and out-migration – and dramatic social and cultural changes, and shifted from being a core area of activity to a periphery. The project investigates if the changing nature of settlement and interconnectivity of the islands can be traced through multi-proxy sedimentary records, combining novel molecular techniques (sedaDNA and lipid biomarkers) with traditional environmental proxies (particularly diatoms and sediment geochemistry).