The term Picti, first recorded in 297AD, was regarded as a Roman nickname meaning ‘the painted ones’. The Picts were descendants of the native Iron Age tribes of Scotland, as well as a combination of earlier tribes. As many as twelve were recorded by Ptolemy (an Alexandrian geographer) in the second century.

In historical terms the name Pictish is applied to the period between 79 AD, when the Romans advanced beyond the Forth – Clyde isthmus into Caledonia, and 842-900 AD when the MacAlpine dynasty came to establish itself. What may be one of the earliest power bases as well as the largest (by a factor of three), is the coastal promontory fort at Burghead.

The Picts were almost certainly a Celtic society of farmers and hunters with many parallels to other cultures across northern Europe. Pictish society would have been similar in many important aspects to other European barbarian cultures. Tribal in nature, it would have been organised around a chief who would have had a retinue of elite warriors. They would have been rewarded with honour, feasting and moveable wealth, ranging from gold and jewels to cattle and slaves, obtained by raiding other communities. The poorer members of the community would have occupied themselves with subsistence farming, paying small tributes to their chief and fighting only in desperate self-defence.

The profusion of carved stones is the source of the fascination - and the frustration - of the Picts. Their symbols do have meaning; they were once recognised and understood by a whole population. And if only the code could be cracked, their stories are still there to be read. Although the Picts are lost to history, they have never truly gone away. Their legacy in stone is still with us.
Text by Cath Millar.