University of Exeter - Open Exeter

Pre-Viking Age Scotland: Britons Picts and Scots

Arrival

It is generally agreed that Norwegian Vikings were the first to explore Britain. Danish Vikings were active along the Frisian coast at about the same time or slightly later and Swedish Vikings had already penetrated the Russian river systems, but there is no compelling written evidence to suggest that the Danes had  sailed into the Channel for another generation after Norwegians were in Scotland.

Given their navigational and ship building skills, the journey to Scotland would have been relatively easy. The distances involved were only some 300 kms to the Shetlands and about 500 kms to the Orkneys from the west coast of Norway, something akin to the journey along the Norwegur from Bergen to Trondheim or south from Stavanger to Denmark.

The linear arrangement of the Northern Isles helped. Shetland is composed of some 100 islands stretching for about 110 kms. with the Faeroes to the north and Fair Isle between them and Orkney with its 70 islands. These islands would make an easy landfall within 24 -  36 hours from the Norwegian coast. The prevailing easterly winds of the spring and the westerlies of the autumn would have made it possible to make the return journey within one sailing season.

Scotland : Pre-Viking

Scotland at the time of the Viking arrival was composed of three kingdoms:  the Picts were in control of the Northern and much of the Western Isles as well as most of the northern and eastern mainland; Dalriata held the southern Western Isles and Argyll, and the British kingdom of Strathclyde lay either side of the river Clyde.

The Picts were mentioned for the first time by Roman writers at the end 3rd century AD. They were the descendants of the British indigenous population in Scotland then, this name replacing those of earlier tribes. The kings of Dalriada were descended from powerful families who moved from Ireland about AD 500. The Britons of Strathclyde were direct descendants of the Damnonii tribe who lived in the area during the period of Roman rule. 

Strathclyde was a British kingdom which developed in the post-Roman period out of the former tribal area of the Damnonii tribe around the Clyde. Dalriada was formed when a small number of high status families, the Dal Riatans, moved into Argyll and the southern Western Isles from Ireland in the late 5th century.

By the time of the Viking arrival, these were Christian kingdoms. The Christian tradition in Strathclyde may perhaps be traced back continuously to the late Roman period. In Dalriada Christianity was probably introduced by the Irish c. AD 500, but its most famous centre, the monastery of Iona was only founded  by the Irish noble Columcille (Columba) in 563.  The Picts had only recently converted to Christianity, by the efforts of Iona, of Irish missionaries and of Anglo-Saxon missions from the kingdom of Northumbria in the early 8th  century.

High Status Sites

Hill and promontory forts were used as high status or royal sites in all the Scottish kingdoms. These were places where feasting, craft-working, religious ritual, inauguration rites, reception of visitors, trade and exchange and collection of tribute took place. There would have been several in each kingdom, with kings and their entourages moving from one site to another at intervals. Forteviot is the exception - this was a low-lying unfortified site, where aerial photography and written sources have suggested royal activity.

Fortified centres of high status activity are known in all three kingdoms and are characteristic of our region in this period, although unenclosed high status sites almost certainly existed too. Forteviot is a possible example. Such centres acted as residences, as well as being centres for religious and inauguration rites, storage, craft-working, feasting and centres of prestige. Halls might be expected at such sites, though few have been revealed.

All the foregoing sites may also be identified from the written record, but at Cunningsburgh,  the king’s fort, in Shetland, the indications for high status activity are solely archaeological.The site lies close to an outcrop of steatite, which was used in pottery making from the bronze age. The sculptural relief of a wolf-headed man from Mail nearby implies a pre-Christian ritualistic connection. Cunningsburgh has also yielded four ogam inscriptions in use perhaps in Shetland in the 8th and 9th centuries. Ogam was a primitive alphabet developed in Ireland about the third century AD and introduced to the Picts by the Irish.

The Brough of Birsay, a tidal island 21 hectares in size off the west coast of Orkney, has archaeological evidence for craftworking, especially in metal, pre-Viking.

 


The Brough of Birsay from the mainland. This tidal island, off the west coast of Orkney main island, is some 20 hectares in extent and rises steeply away from the mainland. It is in an exposed position and is unsuitable for arable agriculture. Any occupants would be unable to support themselves without outside help.  


The Brough of Birsay from the mainland. This tidal island, off the west coast of Orkney main island,  is some 20 hectares in extent and rises steeply away from the mainland. It is  in an exposed position and is unsuitable for arable agriculture. Any occupants would be unable to support themselves without outside help.


Crucibles show copper alloy, lead working and evidence for iron smithing and the manufacture of jewellery and bone pins and combs. Joints of meat were apparently transported to the island, since all parts of animal skeletons were not present. These are perhaps evidence of food renders to a ruler or lord. The Brough also has elements  of planning in the layout of buildings on the island - another indication of organisation and control -in fact the complexity of buildings on the site also suggests its importance, yet the nature of the island makes it impossible for  residents to have supported themselves from the resources available on the island

Pictish Art

Pictish symbol stones are perhaps the most recognisable objects of Pictish culture. Some 200 stones of Class One, which probably date from the 6th into the 7th century are known.

Pictish Symbols
The symbols shown in the link above were incised onto undressed stone slabs. Some 50 different symbols are known, although only a small number had widespread use. Nevertheless they do attest a uniform culture and thought pattern across the area, with elite groups perhaps expressing religious belief. Suggestions for use have included grave markers, memorial stones and boundary markers. They are also distributed on the best farming land, which suggests a close connection with landholding.

The occurrence of mirrors, spears and cauldrons as symbols have suggested to some representation of the ritualistic deposition of objects into water or in the ground. Of significance is that their distribution coincides with the best available farming land. 

Economy

Other social groups in these pre-Viking societies in Scotland are less well known. The economy clearly included hunting, as deer bones have been recovered from some sites.  What little environmental evidence exists suggests that cattle were important and this is reinforced by sparse references e.g. in the Life of St. Columba and by the pictures on the symbol stones.  Cattle were important, although sheep were also kept for wool. Arable agriculture could be practised in Scotland especially on the eastern coastal plain south of Inverness and on some of the islands. The growing of wheat, barley, oats and rye is attested from different sources.  Products of the sea were also an important part of the economy.

The settlements from which farming was done are becoming better known, although there is a long way to go.  We may be best seeing a pattern of territories with leading families able to offer protection.  Within these large territories were probably patterns of estates, which owed service and tribute to the lords of territories. Such estates might be owned by the aristocracy or by members of the royal family or officials. Within the estate would have been single family farmsteads, although occasionally farmsteads were in closer geographical association with each other.   In southern Pictland houses of oval and round plan are known constructed of both timber and stone.  But there may also have been sub-rectangular buildings.

Arrival of the Vikings

The date of the arrival of the first Vikings into Scotland and the Irish Sea area is controversial. There is no written account of their arrival.  Archaeological sources are too imprecise. Much of the typically Scandinavian material is grave goods, where the date of manufacture may be deduced approximately, although in most cases this will not be narrower than fifty years either side of a possible date. However, grave goods can be very misleading, since they may be heirlooms of considerable age, when placed in the grave.

The danger is that those seeking an early date for the Viking arrival will always take the earliest possible date for the manufacture of typical Viking find. Celtic material, largely from Ireland, does appear in graves in Norway, but this material suffers from the same difficulty.  There is some tentative support for contact between Orkney and Norway in the pre- Viking Age from a limited study by Weber of antler combs from Pictish sites which have proved to be reindeer antler, not available in Scotland in this period, but certainly readily obtainable in Norway.  This research is continuing with analysis of more combs being undertaken. So far it appears to back Weber's orginal conclusions. But are the sites securely Pictish, or may they be contaminated by later material?

Attempts have been made in the past to place absolute dates on place-names, but few scholars would accept this now.  At best they could only provide a relative chronology.

In the end the most secure ground is probably the written accounts from further south - attacks on Lindisfarne in 793 eg, on Iona and Skye in 795 and on the Aquitaine coast in 799. Almost certainly these were raids by Norwegians. One version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle even tells us that an attack probably on Portland Bill in the Channel was by Northmen from Horthaland and the date is somewhere between 786 - 802 It seems likely that these ships were making landfall in Scotland before proceeding south. Ireland also was being attacked in the same decade and by the early 840’s Vikings were over-wintering in the island.  It is inconceivable that Vikings were not already settling in Scotland before they began to stay on in Ireland.

The most plausible date then for the first arrival of Vikings in Scottish waters is the last decade of the 8th century with settlement beginning some time in the following couple of generations. One other question is: was Scotland being used as a base to attack further south?  This is tied up with the suggestion of ‘nes’ taking. Many of the Scottish headlands have nes name endings - an old Norse element meaning a headland- and since many of these have earthwork fortifications on them it has led to one suggestion that these were Iron Age promontory forts re-used by the Vikings over the winter.  (We shall see the same idea suggested for the Isle of Man later) We need to be cautious here.  We have seen already that the Vikings were perfectly capable of sailing from Norway and back home in a single season.so we come again to motives for leaving Norway.  No fortified headland has been excavated - earthwork ramparts do exist, but they could as easily be Bronze or Iron Age or even medieval.  Nes names may merely be navigation points. Excavated nes sites on Man have not proved conclusively to be of early Viking date. rather what evidence there is tends to suggest Iron age or later medieval occupation.

Questions for you to think about

  1. What factors made it possible for Norwegians to sail to the Scottish Northern Isles from the late 8th century?
  2. List the features you would expect to find on a high status site in early Christian Scotland.
  3. For what purposes did the Picts erect symbol stones?
  4. List the arguments for suggesting that Norwegian Vikings first sailed to Scotland late in the 8th century

Quiz

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