what would they be defending up there? seems like an odd place to build a fortification at. no supply route, limited space. was the sea stack connected properly to the mainland during that period?
JZoidberg connection to the land could easily have been solved by wooden structures, however my concern is that the fortification could easily have been undermined
It's not far from Aberdeen, which was a major center of the Picts: all that area is the northern Lowlands, i.e. the lowlands that are rather part of the Highlands but less hilly, more fertile. Much less explanation have the huge constructions of Orkney belonging to the Chalcolithic or Megalithic period, yet people back in the day for some reason (fisheries, trade routes, religious reasons?) thought it was worth the effort.
Im not expert on Picts, but I worked as volunteer on few archeo surveys of pre-christ cultures (including celtic - Púchovská culture) fortifications here in Slovakia and places like this served as "panic rooms" for few local villages. Normally they doesnt live there, but keep there some supplies and shelters and in case of conflict with another clan they moved there unfighting part of families. It was their last stand. Another type of fortifications were "oppidum" usually much bigger, massively fortified and on not so unreachable places (but that wasnt rule, I saw quite huge fort of lužicka culture on top of 1114 m steep hill where just climb there every morning took about 50 minutes).
Good point. We don´t know what language was spoken by the picts. Most of scholars think that was a language related with welsh, an in welsh the word for king is "brenin" however is a fact that many indoeuropean languajes form India to Ireland use words reated with ri to mean "king" (Rex, raja, rey...). I don't know if this root can be found in ancient welsh but it wouldn't surprise me.
@@O3177O Well, after some research thats what wiktionary says about the subject: The word "rhi" in welsh also means king. And that's the etomology: From Proto-Brythonic *rriɣ, from Proto-Celtic *rīxs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs. You can see it by yourself in this link en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/rhi So maybe I wasn't that wrong
@@cesarbravo6697 very interesting,brennus was the leader of Celts who sacked Rome and brennus also attacked the oracle at Delphi, brennus was a title not a name and similar to brenin!
Time Team did a dig on the same site on TV! So saying no one has really looked at the site is way off. These younger folks should exercise a bit more do diligence.
I understand that Picts (Latin "Picti", meaning "the painted ones", same root as "picture") were described as covering their bodies in mud, parts of which was colored, hence the name. For some reason pictures rather seem to suggest tatooing but I'm unaware of any hard evidence in favor of such tatooing. The mud would act as insulator but of course would only be appropriate for tiring and body-heating activities such as war.
@Luiz: Fighting naked was a popular pastime amongst the Celts generally. The Romans recorded it widely and let us not forget that as recently as 1745 the Jacobite army at Culloden abandoned their kilts (They wore the Great Kilt, not the Small Kilt popular today) and charged into battle naked from the waist down. The Picts were a largely peaceable farming people, almost exclusively rural. They did not have large cities and certainly had no standing armies. Clearly, people were not walking around naked in everyday life, in what is now Aberdeenshire; I mean come on. And coming from only a little further south, as I do, I can tell you that mud would not be enough. Oh no. Anyway it would wash off in the rain. All the Celtic peoples were skilled weavers and the Picts would certainly have been no different. It is likely that they wore gaudy, checked garments -- these have been found in other early Celtic cultures eg the Gauls in France -- and the tradition gives rise to tartan and plaid. It is possible that the reference to 'painted' actually refers to their brightly-coloured clothes. The Romans, who invented the name Pictii, always picked names they considered derogatory, for their enemies, especially the ones they failed to defeat. People wearing lots of different, brightly coloured checks would have appeared outlandish to Roman eyes. I think that's a more plausible explanation than the others, though they might well have used tattoos too.
I think it is common Knowledge that Celtic peoples from all over Europe had warrior bands, including women that would go into battle naked. In Gaul the Romans reffered to them as Gaesatae, leading later historians to think this was a tribe of that name. It is now believed that the "Gaesatae" were the warrior elite of Celtic armies, who fought naked. They had a strong believe in the afterlife and required no armour other than a shield and sword
@Oran: Sharp ears. Likely so but could be from the southwest around Stranraer -- the accents are very similar. (Ullans or Ulster Scots is a dialect of Scots.)
@@johnmaclagan2263 Yep, and every Indo Germanic dictionary says Whites are Albino Words. Meaning there were Blacks "Multiracials" also in Europe. Black and Indus are the same damn words hence Indo Europeans. And as a person from "Saxony" yes I can testify that we are all Multiracials and some of us including my own family are of colour.
if thats the case why did St Columba need an interpreter to deal with the Picts , the Picts were unintelligible to him in my opinion they came from Norway even the Bede said they were from scandinavia and he was there at time -
@@kenhankin5073 t columba was Irish and had most of his teachings and activities in the hebrides, which was part of a Irish kingdom at the time, they all spoke Irish so there was not trouble with langauge. People forget that half of whats modern day Scotland was part of a Irish kingdom. Scotland is the result of when the Pictish Kingdom merged with the Irish Kingdom. Explaining why the current scottish speak Scottish Gaelic, (which stems from Irish Gaelic,) rather than a brythonic pictish language. Hope this helped explain 👍
@@corcaighogormghus4618 not quit e why did St Columba need a interpreter when dealing with the Picts it must have been a completely different lingo also O'Gormghus anglicised O'Gorman
I hope we hear a lot more about this dig. Fascinating stuff.
1:22 Pictish woollen sweater.
Must have.
what would they be defending up there? seems like an odd place to build a fortification at. no supply route, limited space. was the sea stack connected properly to the mainland during that period?
JZoidberg connection to the land could easily have been solved by wooden structures, however my concern is that the fortification could easily have been undermined
It's not far from Aberdeen, which was a major center of the Picts: all that area is the northern Lowlands, i.e. the lowlands that are rather part of the Highlands but less hilly, more fertile. Much less explanation have the huge constructions of Orkney belonging to the Chalcolithic or Megalithic period, yet people back in the day for some reason (fisheries, trade routes, religious reasons?) thought it was worth the effort.
Im not expert on Picts, but I worked as volunteer on few archeo surveys of pre-christ cultures (including celtic - Púchovská culture) fortifications here in Slovakia and places like this served as "panic rooms" for few local villages. Normally they doesnt live there, but keep there some supplies and shelters and in case of conflict with another clan they moved there unfighting part of families. It was their last stand. Another type of fortifications were "oppidum" usually much bigger, massively fortified and on not so unreachable places (but that wasnt rule, I saw quite huge fort of lužicka culture on top of 1114 m steep hill where just climb there every morning took about 50 minutes).
And brochs? Did they also serve as fortified last stands?
@@anvilbrunner.2013 hi glen my mothers side is Montieth a sept of the Grahams - legend says Gramus was the first to breach the Antonine Wall
the cliff extended much further inland for much longer than it is now
Incredible! Really appreciate the video and update. 3:07 She is beautiful!
What drove folk to such places?
Fear
Christopher Ellis The Gaels
Secutity. Place was full of wild animals. Raiding parties etc. Plus the fishing and sesl hunting was pretty good.
Such places,!!! Lived here all my life, chseky bastard🤔
Fuegian indians lived in a colder place yet in the southernmost tip of South Amerika.....and they also went around naked...
Pretty neat.
0:37 "Rí" means king in Irish/Gaelic. Not pictish
Good point. We don´t know what language was spoken by the picts. Most of scholars think that was a language related with welsh, an in welsh the word for king is "brenin" however is a fact that many indoeuropean languajes form India to Ireland use words reated with ri to mean "king" (Rex, raja, rey...). I don't know if this root can be found in ancient welsh but it wouldn't surprise me.
@@cesarbravo6697 but it's not though
@@O3177O Well, after some research thats what wiktionary says about the subject: The word "rhi" in welsh also means king. And that's the etomology: From Proto-Brythonic *rriɣ, from Proto-Celtic *rīxs, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃rḗǵs.
You can see it by yourself in this link en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/rhi
So maybe I wasn't that wrong
There would have been lots of language contact and bilingualism anyway
@@cesarbravo6697 very interesting,brennus was the leader of Celts who sacked Rome and brennus also attacked the oracle at Delphi, brennus was a title not a name and similar to brenin!
Time Team did a dig on the same site on TV! So saying no one has really looked at the site is way off. These younger folks should exercise a bit more do diligence.
Did picts really have large curved swords?
No
They were poorly forged and known to bending
I have an an issue with the title picture of this video. If you think the Picts walked around naked you've obviously never been to Scotland
I understand that Picts (Latin "Picti", meaning "the painted ones", same root as "picture") were described as covering their bodies in mud, parts of which was colored, hence the name. For some reason pictures rather seem to suggest tatooing but I'm unaware of any hard evidence in favor of such tatooing. The mud would act as insulator but of course would only be appropriate for tiring and body-heating activities such as war.
@Luiz: Fighting naked was a popular pastime amongst the Celts generally. The Romans recorded it widely and let us not forget that as recently as 1745 the Jacobite army at Culloden abandoned their kilts (They wore the Great Kilt, not the Small Kilt popular today) and charged into battle naked from the waist down.
The Picts were a largely peaceable farming people, almost exclusively rural. They did not have large cities and certainly had no standing armies.
Clearly, people were not walking around naked in everyday life, in what is now Aberdeenshire; I mean come on. And coming from only a little further south, as I do, I can tell you that mud would not be enough. Oh no. Anyway it would wash off in the rain.
All the Celtic peoples were skilled weavers and the Picts would certainly have been no different. It is likely that they wore gaudy, checked garments -- these have been found in other early Celtic cultures eg the Gauls in France -- and the tradition gives rise to tartan and plaid.
It is possible that the reference to 'painted' actually refers to their brightly-coloured clothes. The Romans, who invented the name Pictii, always picked names they considered derogatory, for their enemies, especially the ones they failed to defeat. People wearing lots of different, brightly coloured checks would have appeared outlandish to Roman eyes. I think that's a more plausible explanation than the others, though they might well have used tattoos too.
I think it is common Knowledge that Celtic peoples from all over Europe had warrior bands, including women that would go into battle naked. In Gaul the Romans reffered to them as Gaesatae, leading later historians to think this was a tribe of that name. It is now believed that the "Gaesatae" were the warrior elite of Celtic armies, who fought naked. They had a strong believe in the afterlife and required no armour other than a shield and sword
It is a typical XIX century "dePICTion", taken from Roman sources.
Maybe conflict and war was just a summer entertainment? Mind you...snow in winter and midges/tics in summer disnae leave much room for error.
I'm a Englishman and my granddad is Scottish from the macdonald clan
The six foot tall bearded man is wearing clothes and no tattoos.
viking
@@kenhankin5073 wrong timeframe
thank yew
I’m a member of the ancient royal Pictish Airth family
What!!😆
Is the narrator northern irish?
@Oran: Sharp ears. Likely so but could be from the southwest around Stranraer -- the accents are very similar. (Ullans or Ulster Scots is a dialect of Scots.)
Rod Fleming takes one to know one I guess
@Oran: Haha no, I'm a northeaster. But it's a small country. I don't sound anything like that, as you'll see in my videos
Airly to bed airly to rise sounds just great to me.
"Northern irish" isnt a nationalist nor accent. I assume you mean Ulster
The naked pict like this thumbnail is a falsehood.
A former elephant that “promontory”
Why are Pecs always displayed as Whites when fact is they were Blacks(Tri-Racial Aboriginals) ?
You guys do know White also means non aboriginal?
You must be joking lol
Oh my Lord von Bellend how could we have ever got this so wrong
😆 🤣 😂 cheers for the laugh buddy
One of most northerly European destinations on the map but the lads and lassies hud black pigmentation in their skin
@@johnmaclagan2263 Yep, and every Indo Germanic dictionary says Whites are Albino Words. Meaning there were Blacks "Multiracials" also in Europe.
Black and Indus are the same damn words hence Indo Europeans.
And as a person from "Saxony" yes I can testify that we are all Multiracials and some of us including my own family are of colour.
@@lordvonmanor6915 well ill be damned
Still not buying what yer selling mate
No such race all the Picts and Welsh and Cornish are the same people. The Picts spoke British\ Welsh
evidence that all their forms of language were mutually intelligible?
No evidence that they spoke britonic. Only speculation
if thats the case why did St Columba need an interpreter to deal with the Picts , the Picts were unintelligible to him in my opinion they came from Norway even the Bede said they were from scandinavia and he was there at time -
@@kenhankin5073 t columba was Irish and had most of his teachings and activities in the hebrides, which was part of a Irish kingdom at the time, they all spoke Irish so there was not trouble with langauge.
People forget that half of whats modern day Scotland was part of a Irish kingdom.
Scotland is the result of when the Pictish Kingdom merged with the Irish Kingdom. Explaining why the current scottish speak Scottish Gaelic, (which stems from Irish Gaelic,) rather than a brythonic pictish language.
Hope this helped explain 👍
@@corcaighogormghus4618 not quit e why did St Columba need a interpreter when dealing with the Picts it must have been a completely different lingo
also O'Gormghus anglicised O'Gorman