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The Vikings were buried within 10 metres (30ft) of each other. In the 1940s at Ingleby in Derbyshire a burial ground was found, but it held cremated ashes buried in earthenware pots, with few artefacts. The only other group of bodies found was a battlefield cemetery at nearby Repton. The Cumbria burials were completely different. These were clearly not the longship pirates of legend, but a settled, wealthy, peaceful community. Sir Neil added that the find provided rare evidence of Vikings as settlers who integrated into English life.

Scotland's culture minister has thrown her weight behind the bid to make the Antonine Wall a World Heritage Site... Five local authorities are also supporting the bid, which was officially launched in 2003. The Antonine Wall runs 37 miles from Bo'ness, near Falkirk, to Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire... built in 140AD to keep Pictish warriors out of the Roman Empire after the conquest of southern Scotland... The Antonine Wall was built after the Romans invaded southern and central Scotland almost 2,000 years ago. It became a monument to the reign of Emperor Antonius Pius but was abandoned after just...

VILLAGERS who protested that a new housing estate would “harm the fairies” living in their midst have forced a property company to scrap its building plans and start again. Marcus Salter, head of Genesis Properties, estimates that the small colony of fairies believed to live beneath a rock in St Fillans, Perthshire, has cost him £15,000. His first notice of the residential sensibilities of the netherworld came as his diggers moved on to a site on the outskirts of the village, which crowns the easterly shore of Loch Earn. He said: “A neighbour came over shouting, ‘Don’t move that rock....

STARING into the terrifying thunderous tumult of the Corryvreckan whirlpool, it's easy to see why its sheer primal energy has fascinated people for centuries. Now Edinburgh folklorist Stuart McHardy has suggested a startling new theory - that the awe-inspiring natural vortex between the islands of Scarba and Jura in Argyll and Bute was the true origin of the Holy Grail. At its wildest, some say the whirlpool forms a spectacular swirling cauldron 300 feet wide and 100 feet deep. The cause is hidden beneath the waves – a giant rock pinnacle rising from the depths to within 95 feet of...

Hellow man, Don`t mind my bad English. Firstly I want to make clear that the berber(we call oure self Amazigh) wich means free people are NOT Lybians!! There are berber tribes in Libia butt that is it. I am from berber origin (Atlas Mountains Morocco) now living in Holland. I am trying to search my identity. I red some artikels obout the Picts Living in Scotland that I found very interesting. I also red in another artikel written by a Scottish missionary, he wrote the article "The Berber oure distant cousins". I know that the Scottish people are a proud...

The ancient split between the English and Scots is older than previously thought, an Oxford don said today. Traditionally the difference between the English and Scots, Welsh, Irish and Cornish was attributed to the foreign influence of invading forces such as the Anglo-Saxons, Celts and Vikings settling in different areas of Britain hundreds of years ago. But Professor Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University, believes the difference originates much further back in history. In a book tracing humankind from its origins in Africa 80,000 years ago, Prof Oppenheimer develops a theory of the original inhabitants of Britain. The professor of clinical...

Archaeologists uncover Aberdeenshire’s hidden history on slopes of Bennachie Archaeologists have uncovered ancient traces, from tiny bead ornaments to massive walls, of a forgotten prince’s palace on the slopes of Bennachie in Aberdeenshire. Only yards from a busy car park used by walkers visiting the landmark hill, a 15-strong team rediscovered remains of Maiden Castle just below the surface of a wooded hillside mound. A stone’s throw from the Rowantree car park, near Pitcaple, and also close to one of the most important Pictish carved monuments in the country, the two-week dig confirmed the importance of the 2,000-year-old fort area....

From studying the present day population of the Orkneys, a small archipelago off the northeast coast of Scotland, geneticists from University College, in London, have gained a deep insight into the earliest inhabitants of Europe. Of the medley of peoples who populated Britain, neither the Anglo-Saxons nor the Romans ever settled the distant Orkneys. The Romans called the islands' inhabitants picti, or painted people. The Celtic-speaking Picts dominated the islands until the arrival of the Vikings about A.D. 800. The islanders then spoke Norn until the 18th century when this ancient form of Norse was replaced by English, brought in...

DNA test can detect Picts' descendants By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent (Filed: 14/08/2006) A geneticist has created a DNA test for "Scottishness" that will tell people whether they are direct descendants of the Picts. The test, expected to cost about £130, checks a sample of saliva against 27 genetic markers linked to some of the earliest inhabitants of Scotland. Dr Jim Wilson, of the public health sciences department at Edinburgh University, said: "We started this work a few years ago, looking at the Norse component, and we proved that a large proportion of people on Orkney are descended from Vikings....

Scientific evidence of an ancient invasion of Scotland from Ireland may have been uncovered by DNA techniques. Researchers from Edinburgh University said studies of Scots living on Islay, Lewis, Harris and Skye found strong links with Irish people. Early historical sources recount how the Gaels came from Ireland about 500 AD and conquered the Picts in Argyll. Scientists said the study was the first demonstration of a significant Irish genetics component in Scots' ancestry. The research, which features work by geneticist Dr Jim Wilson, a specialist in population genetics, is being featured in programmes on Gaelic television channel BBC Alba....

A linguistic mystery has arisen surrounding symbol-inscribed stones in Scotland that predate the formation of the country itself.The stones are believed to have been carved by members of an ancient people known as the Picts, who thrived in what is now Scotland from the 4th to the 9th Centuries. These symbols, researchers say, are probably "words" rather than images. But their conclusions have raised criticism from some linguists. The research team, led by Professor Rob Lee from Exeter University in the UK, examined symbols on more than 200 carved stones. They used a mathematical method to quantify patterns contained within...

photo: Rob Knell and Rob Lee The ancestors of modern Scottish people left behind mysterious, carved stones that new research has just determined contain the written language of the Picts, an Iron Age society that existed in Scotland from 300 to 843. The highly stylized rock engravings, found on what are known as the Pictish Stones, had once been thought to be rock art or tied to heraldry. The new study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A, instead concludes that the engravings represent the long lost language of the Picts, a confederation of Celtic tribes that...

A millennium-old mystery may soon be at a close after archaeologists began investigating a unique Pictish stone near Glamis... It is thought the stone once marked the western edge of Forfar Loch. If, as is thought, the stone has remained unmoved at the same site for more than 1100 years then it could provide a unique window into the past. Most stones of its type have been moved from their original sites -- destroying their link to the land and hindering the work of those trying to decipher what messages they were intended to convey. St Orland's stone also bares...

The first Pictish throne to be built for a millennium has been unveiled by researchers investigating the lives of Scotland's most mysterious tribal people. The team spent a year crafting the oak of five Scottish trees into a design modelled on ancient carvings in a project that cost around £10,000. Raised thrones were important symbols of Pictish power for church leaders and kings, but none survive. The project at the National Museums of Scotland (NMS) is part of a three-year research programme, sponsored by the Glenmorangie whisky company, and aims to improve understanding of Scottish history from 300AD to 900AD......

One of the most significant discoveries of this year's dig is conclusive evidence that the earliest viking houses, thought to date from around AD900, were preceded by a Pictish settlement. Previously -- excavations were carried out in 2008 and 2009 -- a number of Pictish artefacts had been found on the site, but there was no actual proof that the Picts lived there... One question that has yet to be answered though, is what happened in the transition between the Pict and the viking villages, and, as yet, no evidence has been found of an integration between the two. "In...

Lost capital of Scotland uncovered Dark Age fort found near Wallace Monument proves Stirling was home of Scottish warlords By Jenifer Johnston Workers laying cables to floodlight the National Wallace Monument have uncovered a 1500-year-old citadel which confirms the site of Scotland's lost capital. Archaeologists believe the ruins establish a much earlier time of sophisticated battles near Stirling. An archaeological report published yesterday reveals that the cliff-top fortification on the volcanic Abbey Craig was a 'Dark Age citadel' occupied between 500 and 780AD. The discovery of entrances, stone walls and timber ramparts provides the first evidence that Stirling was one...

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 PICTISH stone found in Cunningsburgh has been described as the most important archaeological discovery in Shetland for 10 years. It was found in Mail cemetery by gravedigger Malcolm Smith, his second such find in 16 years The sculptured stone is inscribed with mysterious symbols and dates back to the dark ages. It is the ninth stone of its kind to be discovered in the same area in the last 130 years. Its significance has been high­lighted by Dr Ian Tait, collections curator at the Shetland Museum and Archives. “It is extremely exciting because it is a single find which...

Dig unearths 1,500 year old 'Tarbat Man' HUMAN remains have been discovered at Portmahomack - but police will not be called in as the skeleton is thought to be around 1,500 years old and likely to be that of a Pictish monk. The discovery was made by archaeologists from the University of York who come to the Port each season to dig in the grounds of the Tarbat Old Church, one of the most important Pictish sites in Scotland. They are excited by the find came in the last week of the archaeological dig and means that the team will...

Lasers conserve Pictish treasures The Pictish carved stones date from the decades before 843 AD High-tech laser technology has been used to record and conserve one of the finest collections of Pictish carved stones in Scotland. The St Vigeans Stones from Arbroath are being cleaned by a specialist team of Historic Scotland experts in Edinburgh. Earlier efforts at conservation, dating back to the 1960s, carried out using the best techniques of the time have now reached the end of their life. The project removes the earlier repairs and uses more modern treatments. The project is part of works to upgrade...