Scotland in the Iron Age
The Stirling torcs are amongst examples of high quality crafts produced at an early date and the Pictish symbol stones are emblematic of later times.
However much of Scotland remained outside of the Roman world and after the departure of the legions the Celtic Iron Age way of life, often troubled but never extinguished by Rome, re-asserted itself for several centuries more.
[13] Writing about 70 years later, in 140-150 CE, Ptolemy, drawing on the naval expeditions of Agricola and most likely the earlier explorers, created a map and identified numerous tribal territories throughout Britain (see details below).
The Votadini stronghold of Traprain Law, East Lothian for example was, at its maximum 40 hectares (99 acres) in extent, the size of a town,[18] although there is no certain evidence either of a dense settlement or pre-Roman occupation.
[16] Findings from the site of the broch at Dun Vulan in South Uist, which was occupied for c. 150 to 50 BCE,[22] have generated some debate about the nature of life in the Atlantic coast during the Iron Age.
Studies have shown that stone roundhouses with massively thick walls, must have contained virtually the entire population of islands such as Barra and North Uist and throughout Argyll.
[32] The Ravenna Cosmography utilises a third- or fourth-century Roman map and identifies four loci (meeting places, possibly markets) in southern Scotland.
[33][i] The peoples of early Iron Age Scotland, particularly in the north and west, lived in substantial stone buildings called Atlantic roundhouses.
Extensive studies of such a fort at Finavon Hill near Forfar in Angus, using a variety of techniques, suggest dates for the destruction of the site in either the last two centuries BCE or the mid-first millennium.
[49] Writing in 2002 Ballin Smith and Banks noted the "paucity of papers on the Iron Age of mainland Scotland", the research concentrating on the islands to the west and north where scattered modern rural populations and limited agriculture meant that Iron Age buildings were relatively easy to find and excavate (and in many cases are vulnerable to coastal erosion).
[50] There are the remains of fifteen broch towers in southern Scotland that appear to date from the period immediately prior to or following Agricola's invasion.
The relative importance of cereal growing to pastoralism is hard to gauge[25] but the picture appears to be one of increasing intensification of agriculture as the Iron Age progressed and particularly in the post-broch period.
Excavations at Keil cave on the Mull of Kintyre found indications of burials, iron working and Roman pottery with activity taking place over an extended period.
He is briefly mentioned by Bede who states that in the fifth century he set up his base at Whithorn in the south-west of Scotland[67] building a stone church there known as Candida Casa.
[68] The influence of Iona was considerable, with strong links to Ireland and a network of monastic sites in the west of Scotland including Applecross, Tiree, Lismore, Eigg and Hinba.
"[76] The Torrs Pony-cap and Horns, dating from c. 200 BCE and in the La Tène style, are amongst a relatively small surviving group of elite metal objects from the Scottish Iron Age.
Based in part on the metallurgy, the Museum of Scotland give a date of 80-250 CE for its construction, noting that it was a locally produced piece, "a specifically Scottish variant" distinct in design from known continental carnyces.
There are regularly occurring symbols such as the double disc and images of animals such as the Burghead Bulls and the Pictish Beast on these monumental stones but their original purpose is not clear.
[81] The remains of the bridge of a lyre found at High Pasture Cave on Skye is the earliest find of a stringed instrument in western Europe.
Evidence from Poolewe indicates that the use of non-ferrous metals began at the commencement of the Iron Age even in the places far from the availabality of raw materials.
[86] The Votadini, who occupied the south-east of Scotland, came under Roman sway at an early stage and Cerialis sent one division north through their territory to the shores of the Firth of Forth.
[98][99] It was a stone and turf fortification built across the width of what is now northern England and was roughly 4 metres (13 ft) or more high along its length,[100] and the wall was wide enough to allow for a walkway along the top.
Today, the sward-covered Antonine Wall is the remains of a defensive line made of turf and clay circa 7 metres (23 feet) high (including a wooden palisade), with seventeen forts.
[104] The Roman frontier became Hadrian's Wall again,[96] and subsequently the most notable invasion was in 209 when the emperor Septimius Severus, claiming to be provoked by the belligerence of the Maeatae, campaigned against the Caledonian Confederacy.
Extensive analyses of Black Loch in Fife suggest that arable land spread at the expense of forest from about 2000 BCE until the first-century Roman advance.
In Scotland, the Roman presence may have destabilised some of the pre-existing power structures, and perhaps "helped to catalyse the transformation from tribal organizations to Kingdoms" but the Celtic Iron Age way of life, often troubled but never extinguished by Rome, simply re-asserted itself.
[121] The technology of everyday life is not well recorded, but archaeological evidence shows for example that precious metal working was widespread[122] and that timber halls were in use over a wide area by the seventh century.
There were no more pitched battles and conflict was generally limited to raiding parties from both sides of the frontier until immediately prior to and after the Roman retreat from Britannia.
[129] Dál Riata emerged as a Gaelic kingdom on the western seaboard of Scotland and north-eastern Ireland during the early or mid sixth century.
[132] Excavations at Norwick on the island of Unst in Shetland indicate that Scandinavian settlers had reached there, perhaps as early as the mid-7th century, consistent with dates produced for Viking levels at Old Scatness.
