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The Picts have long been considered a mysterious people, leaving behind little evidence of their presence other than their iconic carved stones.
Research by the University of Aberdeen now sheds new light on the origin and development of their still undifferentiated symbol system, which has divided historical opinion for over a century.
University archaeologists have teamed up with national museums in Scotland and meeting experts from the Scottish Universities' Environmental Research Center (SUERC) to provide a more accurate dating scheme suggesting that the system of engraved symbols can be traced back to the third century. fourth century AD – much earlier than expected.
Researchers date radiocarbon-carved objects with symbols and specimens specially selected from modern excavations to provide a timeline of the outlines of Pictish's symbol system based on scientific rather than historical dating techniques.
Their discoveries, published in the leading archeology journal antiquity, support the idea that symbols represent a script likely to be a naming system communicating the identities of Picts and that it was developed at the same time as other writing systems in Europe, as the script ogham from the beginning of Ireland and the runic system developed in Scandinavia. .
Gordon Noble, head of archeology at the University of Aberdeen, led the archaeological excavations. "Establishing a brief chronology by combining direct dating, modeling and examination of dates associated with archaeological excavations helps us to rewrite the history of these symbolic traditions of Northern Europe and to understand more clearly the context of their development. and their use.
"In recent decades, there has been a growing consensus that the symbols on these stones are a form of early language and our recent excavations, as well as the dating of found objects close to the location of the objects. stones, provide for the first time a plus A safer chronology: while others had suggested the origins of this system, there was no direct scientific dating about it.Our dating reveals that the system of symbols should date from the 3rd-4th century AD and from a period prior to that of many learned scholars. "
The team has developed a "new and more robust" timeline that identifies a clear schema for both the likely date and the style of the sculptures.
Evidence of dating was collected during excavations in a promontory of Dunnicaer seastack, located south of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, where undeveloped sculptures, generally smaller and less standardized than subsequent surviving stone monuments, had were found in the nineteenth century. .
New excavations revealed that the stones probably came from the fort's rampart and dating the site proved conclusively that the colony was at its height in the third and fourth centuries AD.
Direct dating was also performed on bone objects and settlement layers from sites in the North Islands. This showed the use of the symbol system in the fifth century of our era in the Far North, in areas on the outskirts of Pictland.
Bayesian modeling, a technique for refining and reducing the probabilities of radiocarbon dating, has also been used to clarify Pictish's establishment dates at Rhynie in Aberdeenshire, famous for the Rhynie Man's Stone . This showed that a fort with pictorial symbol stones stood in a series of ramparts and palisades dating from the late fourth century to the early sixth century AD.
Martin Golderg, National Museums Scotland, added: "Our new dating work suggests that the development of these pictish symbols was much more closely aligned with the Nordic phenomenon of developing vernacular scriptures, such as the runic system of Scandinavia and from northern Germany ". had already been thought.
"The general assumption was that the Picts were late in the game in terms of monumental communication, but this new chronology shows that they were actually innovators in the same way as their contemporaries, perhaps even more so. they did not fit an alphabetic writing, but developed their own symbolic script.
"Pictorial symbols are the most common and monumental form of communication that remains from northern Britain, but their origin is poorly understood in relation to other forms of alphabetic writing." help to correct this and shed new light on an often neglected topic, but an important part of our heritage.The typology developed from these scientific dates will also help us to assign dates for the whole body of tradition of the symbol pictish, which will allow us to deepen the evolution of this writing over time "
Dr. Derek Hamilton of SUERC has undertaken Bayesian modeling. Dr. Hamilton said, "Bayesian modeling has revolutionized the world of radiocarbon dating, allowing us to develop more refined time frames than was previously possible." Statistic modeling of Pictland dates begins to give our understanding of this tradition a more solid foundation, than ever before. "
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Evidence shows that this rocky outcrop sheltered the first strong pictish
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