10 little-known facts about the ancient Picts - the mysterious "painted" enemies of the Vikings

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Picts are the most mysterious people of medieval Europe. Almost nothing is known about the "barbarians" who controlled the lands north of Hadrian's Wall between the Roman invasions and the Viking raids. These ancient inhabitants of northern Scotland were as enigmatic to both the inhabitants of that era and to modern scholars. They spoke a language unknown to anyone, made intricate tattoos on their bodies, ruled the seas and practiced female succession.

1. Painted enemies of the Vikings

The Picts left no written records behind. Almost everything modern scientists know about them is based on the records of their enemies. In 297 the Roman writer Evenius first referred to the inhabitants north of Hadrian's Wall as "painted" or "painted". The Irish referred to the Picts as "cruetney" or "painted people". This close parallel to the Roman name suggests that "Pict" was the self-name of the Northern Scots.

Essentially, the Picts were a confederation of tribes that united to fight a common enemy. The Romans tried to defeat them many times, but they always failed. Later, the Picts united against the Vikings. By 900, they had completely disappeared from historical records, presumably due to a fusion with the culture of the southern Scots. Some modern scholars claim that they called themselves "pecht" ("ancestors").

2. Riddle of the language of the Picts

In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, historian and theologian Beda noted that there were five languages in eighth-century Britain: English, Latin, British, Gaelic, and Pictish. In The Life of Columbus, Admonan argues that St. Columbus needed a translator among the Picts. Without written records, today the only evidence of this mysterious language is the names of places, a number of personal names, and mysterious Pictish rock paintings.

Some believe that the Picts spoke an indigenous language, possibly a Bronze Age language that was closer to Basque than Celtic. Others believe that the Picts spoke an ancient Celtic language that was akin to British, still spoken in Wales today. Proponents of this theory point out that the names of the Pictish in northeastern Scotland are clearly Indo-European and related to other Celtic languages. A third theory suggests that they spoke the Goydl language introduced into their territory by the Irish. The Picts also adopted the Ogamic script that originated in Ireland.

3. Continuity along the female line

One of the most enduring myths about the Picts is that they practiced matrilineal (maternal) succession. In The Ecclesiastical History of the Angles, Bede the Venerable notes that when the Picts arrived in Britain by sea from Scythia, they had no wives and sought brides from Irish scots. The Scots provided them with women on one condition: "they were to choose the king by the female royal line, not by the male." Written in the 14th century, the Pictish Chronicle lists the kings and the length of their reign.

Interestingly, the sons of their fathers never became Pictish kings until the end of the seventh century. However, kings were identified by the names of their male relatives. Critics believe Bede's stories may have been a ploy to prove that the Pictish lands were ruled by the Irish. Some, like the author of Celts and the Classical World, David Rankin, believed that matrilineal succession may have been the legacy of pre-Indo-European powers.

4. The face of the victim of the Picts

Last week, researchers at the University of Dundee published a reconstruction of the face of a Pict who was brutally murdered 1,400 years ago. Called "Rosemary", the skeleton lay in caves on the Black Island. Radiocarbon dating has shown that its age dates back to between 430 and 630 A. D. The skeleton was lying cross-legged and a large stone crushing it. According to forensic anthropologist Sue Black, Rosemary was brutally killed, inflicting at least five head injuries. His teeth were knocked out, his jaw was broken, and his skull was punctured and crushed. Despite the brutality of the murder, there is evidence that the person was buried with great care.

5. The Man from Reenie

In 1978, a Scottish farmer unearthed a massive stone slab depicting a man carrying an ax near the Scottish village of Renee. Called "The Man of Rini", this 2-meter-high carved stone still haunts archaeologists. Dating from around 700 AD, the stone depicts a bearded man with a long pointed nose, wearing a headdress and tunic. The "Man of Rini" was discovered in the vicinity of the Crawstone, another Pictish carved stone depicting a salmon and an unknown animal.

Excavations in the Rhine between 2011 and 2012 have uncovered artifacts that include Mediterranean pottery, French glass and Anglo-Saxon metalwork. Archaeologists have also uncovered evidence of advanced metallurgy at Rini. The most common interpretation of The Man of Rini is that he depicts Esus, the Celtic god of trees and forestry. The area also features stones with Irish Ogham and Celtic designs.

6. Painted Pictish Pebbles

Since the 19th century, Picts-painted pebbles have been the subject of heated debate. These small quartzite stones were painted with simple symbols. According to local beliefs, they were called "talisman stones" or "cold stones". Even in 1971, these "magic" stones were used to treat diseases in both animals and humans. An alternative theory suggests that the stones were sling ammunition and that the "markings" on them denote the owner.

In 2014, bricklayer Robbie Arthur and explorer Jenny Murray wanted to copy these stones. They found that the stones were colored with a dark substance produced from burning peat. Peat was a common household and smelter fuel in Scotland. Researchers have found that if you leave this pigment on the stone overnight, it won't wash off afterwards, even with hot water. Similar colored stones have been found in central France, the Pyrenees, and southern Italy. They date back 10,000 to 12,000 years.

7. Pictish naval power

In 2015, archaeologists discovered an Iron Age fort built by the Picts, a testament to their power as a naval force at the time. The fort, located at a height of 6 meters on the Dannikaer cliff, could only be reached by climbing a steep cliff. Built between the fifth and sixth centuries, it was probably part of a series of forts that controlled the east coast of Scotland. The massive stones used to build the fort were brought from elsewhere.

They feature stylized drawings of fish and rings with broken spears in them. Dr. Gordon Noble of the University of Aberdeen notes, "The Picts were known as naval raiders, and forts like this may have helped bolster this naval power." Noble and his team found the remains of a protective rampart, loopholes, and the remains of a hearth that still contains coal. Noble suspects that the site also contained a Pictish settlement, built of wood and destroyed long ago.

8. Kenneth McAlpin

Almost nothing is known about the most famous king of the Picts, Kenneth I Macalpine. By the middle of the ninth century, the Vikings had destroyed the Pictish kingdom. McAlpin took advantage of this lack of power. Born around 810 to a Gaul father, King Alpin II and a Pictish princess, Macalpin decided to unite the Pictish and Gaelic kingdoms. Naturally, he had competitors. Legend has it that the seven royal houses of the Picts, led by Drest X, opposed Macalpin.

One of McAlpin's more sinister stories of "treason" is that he lured his drunken competitors into spike-filled pits. However, this is unlikely. In about 848 Macalpin united the Picts and Gauls. But the Viking threat has not gone anywhere. One story suggests that 140 Viking ships attacked the Gaelic kingdom of Dal Riyadh, causing it to disappear from history. After Macalpin's death in 858, the Picts also disappeared.

9. The beast of the Picts

In 2011, archaeologists discovered an image of a mysterious "Pictish beast" carved into the wall of a farm on Black Island. Dating back to the 5th-7th centuries, the stone is perfectly preserved and had almost no signs of weathering. Researcher Keith McCullah believes the stone was buried for a long time before being placed in the wall. Isobel Henderson, a specialist in early medieval sculpture, was the first to stumble upon the mysterious carvings of a mysterious animal, as well as images of a crescent, a comb and a mirror. At a nearby farmhouse, Henderson discovered a second Pictish carving depicting either fish scales or goose feathers. 50 years ago, both stones were owned by the same family.

10. Alive to this day

Scholars have long wondered what became of the Picts when they disappeared from history around the ninth century. In 2013, DNA analysis showed that the Picts are quite alive and well. Geneticist Jim Wilson has identified the Y chromosome marker for the direct descendants of the "painted people." Of the 1,000 men surveyed in Scotland, 10 percent carry the R1b-S530 marker.

Less than 1 percent of English males have this chromosome. Picts have also been found in Northern Ireland, where 3 percent of residents are R1b-S530 carriers. However, only one out of 200 participants in the south of Ireland had this Y chromosome. Politically, the Picts seem to have disappeared after the Battle of the Vikings at Strathmore in 839 and the unification of the Gauls and Picts by Kenneth McAlpin. Genetic analysis tells a different story. The Picts are all among us.