Discovering the Picts: From Enemies of Rome to Powerful Kingdoms of Early Medieval Scotland
Published 2021-10-07
The Picts were first mentioned in late Roman sources and went on to become powerful rulers of northern Britain in what is now Northeast Scotland. Bereft of detailed historical sources, archaeological evidence is needed to illuminate the Pictish period. The Northern Picts project at the University of Aberdeen has been running for ten years and has provided dramatic new evidence for the Picts, their power centres and their iconic symbol stones. This talk will highlight some of the major successes of the project and provide an update on recent progress.
BIOGRAPHY
Professor Gordon Noble has undertaken landscape research and directed field projects across Scotland. He has worked on a wide range of landscapes and archaeology projects from the Mesolithic to Medieval periods. He was director and co-founder of Strathearn & Royal Forteviot (SERF), a successful archaeological project researching a site that became one of Scotland’s early royal centres. He now works on two major projects. The first, Northern Picts, is funded by the University of Aberdeen Development Trust and Historic Environment Scotland and is focused on the post-Roman societies of northern Britain. The second, Comparative Kingship, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, is examining the early royal landscapes of Ireland and Scotland.
All Comments (21)
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Great presentation. 👍 You would have to assume they built that citidel but lost their livestock (wealth) to raiders. Thereafter, building the 2nd wall to protect themselves and their wealth. It was large to protect a common wealth. Castles were smaller because they were owned by the raiders.
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Thank you for this video. My surname, Burrell, is an ancient family of Boernicians, a mix of Pict, Angle and Viking, from Northumbria.
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Very informative! Thanks from Englewood, Colorado, USA!
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Fascinating! Thank you!
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i like the cough after the raiding part.
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Fascinating, thanks
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Thank you ,interesting details. God bless
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Just me or does the image on the stone tablet (Land and the written word) at ~3:19, specifically what looks like handcuffs (Infinity symbol?) with the circle up above it (sun?) seem similar to Egyptian, possibly Scythian imagery?
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Amazing, my mother whos mother settled in eastern Canada is from Scottland, they are the Cairns but I have lost the family tree as it's hard to track the history far back. How would you recommend I investigate. My mother is very tall and lean and high cheekbones. She fierce in passion and stubborn, sound Pictish!!!
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This should really be updated
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Q&A re: tattooing - could livestock branding be the key to interpretation as in Caucasus clan markings? Romans branded slaves, so technique known to Iron age cattle-herders perhaps> developed catalog of symbols to identify breeding pedigrees ? Metalwork moulds shown in presentation have distinct troughs and ridges suitable for creating a linear images after heating over a fire?
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On one of the Pictish stone slides, there appears to be Ogham writing on it. Could this be your Roseta stone?
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I don’t think anyone will answer as I’ve asked many a time on a few Pictish pages. I was born in Alyth and was brought up in Coupar Angus, now live in Perth. I would love to know possibly my Pictish tribe who would have lived in this area during the pagan Pictish era? Thank you for any response. 🧙♂️
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The man of Rhynie, go up Ben Macdui and just look around, he's still doing his work.
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If Pictish war bands gave the Roman heathen a hard time, they are alright by me.
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Very interesting... personally I don't think the Dice Tower is for the campaign in the North... Its from where it was found , they referred to others as picts also
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Do you think it's possible at all that when the PIcts were writing ERRDENNN and variations of, on several different stones, they may have been leaving the name that they called themselves? And not in fact, the name of a King.
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The origin of the Pictish language has been a subject of intense debate for many decades . I have to agree with Jackson that Pictish is likely to be pre Indo European and disagree with Forsythe with her thesis of a Celtic origin . I think genealogy is helping us a great deal indeed in the same sense and the Pictish toponymy is clearly non Celtic . The capital of the Picts was Urqhart , in my humble opinion that means surrounded by water , URARTE, the same in Basque and Sumerian. The river URE , water in Basque . ALBA or ARABA means low land in Basque . I wouldn’t object to Federico Krutwig’s theory that CAMPBELL derives from GAN BEL , black night in Basque. IBAR means river in many ancient languages and ABAR or ABER means valley in Celtic languages , yes , but also in Etruscan , Iberian and Basque.
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Should we be looking closer to the irish? After all the picts had irish women when on arrival.
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Building Castles in the sand, I think not oh Sir intelligent Picts 'thing, stuff' defending to evilest dark Roman Italy times. Thank you very intelligent King Charles Regina the III, Buckingham Palace and no more war games at all Earth.
