Damnonii

The Damnonii (also referred to as Damnii) were a Brittonic people of the late 2nd century who lived in what became the Kingdom of Strathclyde by the Early Middle Ages, and is now southern Scotland.

They are mentioned briefly in Ptolemy's Geography, where he uses both of the terms "Damnonii" and "Damnii" to describe them, and there is no other historical record of them, except arguably by Gildas three centuries later.

So far, no evidence point to the Damnonii, Dumnonii and Domnann being the same people or sharing a unique, common descent, and their similarities are likely to be based on their descriptive etymologies.

A less likely theory states that the Damnonii were noted for their mining, which is where they got their names as "the deep ones" as the Clyde area has large amounts of natural ore deposits.

However, there were no towns as such in the area at that time, so he was likely referring to Roman military camps and native strong points such as duns.

From 1757, initial studies of the Damnonii were heavily influenced by the literary forgery The Description of Britain (De Situ Britanniae).

After the final retreat of Rome from Scotland in the year 210 AD, the Damnonii disappear from history, it is unknown when they centralised to form Strathclyde.

However the large surge in forest cover over Scotland in the 2nd century does point to a drop in the native population, most likely due to disease.