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Discovery of early medieval royal stronghold in southwest Scotland [ the Picts ]
Past Horizons ^ | Thursday, July 26, 2012 | unattributed

Posted on 07/27/2012 9:55:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

Trusty's Hill, near Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, is best known for the Pictish Symbols carved into a natural rock outcrop at the fort's entrance. However, in recent years, many historians have begun to doubt whether these carvings were genuine, some even suggesting that the carvings are forgeries...

As well as an abundance of domestic waste, including animal bones, stone and metal tools and a spindle whorl, from 'dark soil' occupation deposits sealed by the collapsed ramparts of the fort, the excavators recovered numerous crucible and clay mould fragments, metalworking debris and a variety of iron pins and a possible Anglo-Saxon disc brooch, indicating the production of high status jewellery within the site... E-ware pottery from a secure occupation context... not only dates to the late sixth or early seventh centuries AD, exactly the right time for when Pictish Symbols were being carved in Scotland, but as an import from Western France is associated with high status, often royal, sites in Atlantic Britain such as Dunadd, Dumbarton Rock and Whithorn...

The excavation also revealed that the stone ramparts were laced with large vertical oak posts and that each of these was purposely set alight and stoked to the point where the stone rubble packed around them began to vitrify. Given the substantial fuel, oxygen and time required to accomplish this, it is likely that this deliberate and spectacular destruction of the ramparts took many days, even weeks, to complete...

...a team of stone conservators from the Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation LLP undertook a laser scan survey of the Pictish Symbol Stone... to enable specialist examination of the detail of how the Pictish Carvings were made and the translation of an ogham inscription that has been previously noted along the edge of the carved stone

(Excerpt) Read more at pasthorizonspr.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: caledonia; dumfries; epigraphyandlanguage; galloway; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; pictish; picts; scotland; scotlandyet; trustyshill
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Trusty's Hill with Gatehouse of Fleet in the background. Image: Galloway Picts Project


Discovery of early medieval royal stronghold in southwest Scotland

Trusty's Hill Pictish carving. Image: Galloway Picts Project


Discovery of early medieval royal stronghold in southwest Scotland

1 posted on 07/27/2012 9:55:37 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: SunkenCiv

Did anyone ever determine just who the heck the picts were? Germanic? Celtic? Neither? And where they went?


2 posted on 07/27/2012 10:03:15 PM PDT by mamelukesabre
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To: SunkenCiv

Remember that when Picts attack, you need to invite the Saxons to invade in order to “help” you. heh. I am sure that will work out fine. lol.


3 posted on 07/27/2012 10:11:47 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: mamelukesabre

It is thought they came from the north. Many Scots are descendents of Scandanavians.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-truth-about-the-picts-886098.html


4 posted on 07/27/2012 10:25:32 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: Jonty30

It has been my understanding that the picts were small, dark people. If from the Nordic area wouldn’t they have been more like the saxons, tall and fair. Just asking.


5 posted on 07/27/2012 10:31:12 PM PDT by Conservative4Ever (The Obamas = rude, crude and socially unacceptable)
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To: ConorMacNessa

6 posted on 07/27/2012 10:33:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: SunkenCiv
Forgive me for doing so, but I just have to ask if they also found several species of small furry animals gathered together in a cave?
7 posted on 07/27/2012 10:53:59 PM PDT by ADemocratNoMore (Jeepers, Freepers, where'd 'ya get those sleepers?. Pj people, exposing old media's lies.)
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To: ADemocratNoMore

I think to find the answer, you’ll have to peer deeply into a Saucerful of Secrets.


8 posted on 07/27/2012 11:21:44 PM PDT by Hoosier-Daddy ( "It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.")
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To: Hoosier-Daddy
> you’ll have to peer deeply into a Saucerful of Secrets.

I'll do that, one of these days.

9 posted on 07/27/2012 11:27:17 PM PDT by ADemocratNoMore (Jeepers, Freepers, where'd 'ya get those sleepers?. Pj people, exposing old media's lies.)
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To: mamelukesabre

Neither. When the Romans first occupied Britain, the Picts were speaking a language that was indecipherable to the them. The Romans guessed they were Iberians. The Romans never tried to occupy Scotland, and the Picts eventually picked up the Gaelic language from the “Scots” who got there from Ireland during late Roman times.


10 posted on 07/27/2012 11:54:11 PM PDT by haroldeveryman
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To: Hoosier-Daddy; SunkenCiv

“dark soil”

heh

they found the bathroom


11 posted on 07/28/2012 12:40:27 AM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Pursue Happiness)
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To: SunkenCiv

Several Species of Small Furry Animals In A Cave Grooving With A Pict by Pink Floyd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_MvZxpE7YU


12 posted on 07/28/2012 12:56:28 AM PDT by Captain Beyond (The Hammer of the gods! (Just a cool line from a Led Zep song))
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To: Captain Beyond

The whole Ummagumma Album for all the purists that need all the songs in context LOL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5A6zdX1Syc&feature=related


13 posted on 07/28/2012 1:00:33 AM PDT by Captain Beyond (The Hammer of the gods! (Just a cool line from a Led Zep song))
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To: haroldeveryman

Harold, I think you have both items backwards. The Scots traveled to Ireland. Not the reverse. Why do you think The Romans built the Hadrian’s Wall? It was to keep the folks from Scotland from kicking their asses. There is a huge amount of history involved in this area. I suggest you read “Born Fighting” by Jim Webb, (Yeah, the (D) Senator) to get the results of his many years of research of this subject.


14 posted on 07/28/2012 3:42:28 AM PDT by P3_Acoustic
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To: haroldeveryman

If they were Iberian, then they were Celtic.


15 posted on 07/28/2012 4:52:46 AM PDT by mamelukesabre
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To: Conservative4Ever

Descendants of the followers of Akhenaten who left Egypt by boat after his death. They brought that art of tatoo with them.


16 posted on 07/28/2012 5:10:52 AM PDT by frithguild (You can call me Snippy the Anti-Freeper)
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To: GeronL; ADemocratNoMore; Hoosier-Daddy; Captain Beyond

LOL!

And btw, I just “got” the Hoosier-Daddy nick’.

CB, I love it when people upload whole albums to YouTube (I have a search for “whole album” or “full album” or something in my browser at work), but alas those acc’ts don’t last long. The German version of Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” was up for a long time, but has finally bit the dust, and the user kicked off YT.


17 posted on 07/28/2012 6:24:54 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: mamelukesabre; Jonty30; Conservative4Ever; haroldeveryman; P3_Acoustic

As always, I’m impressed by FR’s level of discussion on something that’s really kind of arcane, nice job, all.

The Picts were a Celtic people, probably P-Celtic (like the Welsh and Cornish for example), and this is based on the surviving snippets of their language.

The Scoti were a tribe in Ireland that colonized from Ireland in the early Middle Ages.

The Romans invaded Scotland a couple of times, but wrapping up the conquest wound up taking a back seat to some much more pressing issue elsewhere in the Roman Empire, so it never got finished. The full extent of Roman presence in highland Scotland is not yet known — that’s a guess based on the discovery of a Roman settlement found in NE Ireland — but there was never any “Eagle of the Ninth” loss of a Roman legion in Scotland. That’s a fun book for kids and younger teens, BTW, that whole series was a fave back then for yours truly, though I never re-read it.

The extent of the threat from the Caledonians can be summed up by the fact that the Romans manned a 70+ mile long Hadrian’s Wall with a minimum complement of legionaries and relied on imported auxiliaries (such as Sarmatian cavalry) to provide a deterrent, like a security guard does in a shopping mall.


18 posted on 07/28/2012 6:24:54 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...

 GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach
To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.


19 posted on 07/28/2012 6:29:37 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: mamelukesabre

The Picts are generally believed to have been Celts, related to the Brythons of the southern island conquered by the Romans.


20 posted on 07/28/2012 6:35:08 AM PDT by Sherman Logan
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