[blam]

Who Were The Picts

[DoctorMichael]

Interesting article on an obscure subject. The title drew me to this. I was a fan of Howards' back in High School, years before Ah-nold did his movie version.

The part dealing with the Picts 'short stature' and living in 'sod' mounds where access is gained by holes is reminiscent of Tolkien's creation........Hobbits.

Thanks! Bump.

[virgil]

Interesting information. Thanks. I'm not convinced the Picts were Lapps though. It's a mystery.

[meowmeow]

Great article - thanks, blam!

Hey kb2614 - good reading here. Also, I found that book on the Celts we were talking about. You can borrow it - remind me next time you are over.

[alloysteel]

The Picts are still there. They live in the hedgerows, and under piles of stones, and at the back of the sties and coops and byres. They are the Little People, the elves, the leprechauns, the gnomes. Their land overwhelmed by the flame-haired, fair-skinned Germanic Kelts, the few remaining indigenous Picts were forced into slavery, their homes and families and goods scattered and obliterated.

The black Irish, the shanty dwellers, the Irish and Welsh underclass still exist. They labored in mines, as galley slaves on ships, as beasts of burden for other stronger, smarter, and wealthier residents of the land.

The indignities visited upon the North American Indians were practiced first upon the Picts. But no reservations were ever established for the Picts, and they never developed casinos.

[eleni121]

The Saami are small, dark and rugged.

Not the ones we saw. The Saemieh were rather light skinned, blue eyes predominated and lots of blond hair, in fact more than the average Finlander we met.

They constantly defined themselves as ancestors of the Vikings.

[Young Werther]

The Picts retreated into the forests of Wales where they remained in caves and under bridges. This Troll behavior was inherited from the Nordic influences that ruled Britian after the Roman withdrawl.

Indeed, as they lived this rustic existence they evolved into the little people who would populate the lands and imaginations of both Britian and Ireland. It was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who would read about and eventually find pics of the Picts!

Here Come the Fairies!

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Last of the neanderthals?

[tet68]

Kewl ! A Pink Floyd thread.

That was always my favorite song!

[11Bush]

The demise of the Picts was due to King Kull.

[Consort]

They're hiding in geodes.

[marron]

Christianity does probably play a role in the disappearance of the Picts. They warred against all comers until after they were converted. Subsequent to this, over time, they simply intermarried with the Celts. The infamous Kenneth McAlpin was king of both the Scots and the Picts. There were probably many marriages between Picts and Scots, and eventually the two nations simply merged.

I am beginning to suspect that they were also Celts, simply because there are almost no linguistic traces of them at all. If they were Basque, or Saami, place names at the very least would have survived. You can tell, for instance, where the Danes lived by variations in the accent. But its as if the Picts never were. But if their language was closely related, and they eventually shared a common religion with their Scot neighbors, it would not be so surprising that, having no written tongue, they would have simply "disappeared".

It may be frustrating to historians and for obsessive Pictophiles like us, but it is one of history's happy endings. They weren't slaughtered, they got married.

[Sabertooth]

High on his throne sat Bran Mak Morn
When the sun-god sank and the west was red;
He beckoned a girl with his drinking horn,
And, "Sing me a song of the race," he said.

[metesky]

Smertae boy, drop the sheep nd take a look at this.

[csvset]

Very interesting.

[isom35]

the Picts? I know them by their new name, the jpegs.

[SauronOfMordor]

They were small in stature (probably no more than 4 feet tall) and dark of hair and eyes. Archiological evidence shows that they probably spent the icy winters in underground structures which were entered by narrow tunnels, much like an igloo built of stone. These were hidden from view by a covering of sod which made the final stucture look like a rounded hill.

So THAT'S what become of those silly Hobbits!

[cavtrooper21]

Some of my more irrational English pals say that they are still there...
Hiding in the hills and deep glens, waiting patiently for us to go the same way the Romans did.
Not realistic, by makes for a neat daydream.

[Tribune7]

The Romans feared the picts and had very strict laws governing their use as slaves and servants.

While, it was acceptable for a Roman to restrict a Pict to a single estate or farm, the Roman was forbidden to take the Pict along when he traveled.

That was considered a moving Pict and hence illegal.

[farmfriend]

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