Pictish
Pre-medieval Scottish culture
Pictish refers to the Picts, an ancient people who inhabited what is now Scotland from roughly the Iron Age until the early medieval period, or to their language and culture.
The Pictish language, now extinct, left behind only fragmentary inscriptions and place names, making it one of the more mysterious languages of early Britain.
As an adjective, Pictish describes artifacts, symbols, or customs associated with this group: Pictish standing stones, Pictish carvings.
People engaged in battle
- tribesAncestral social groups
- clansRelated family groups
- kingsMale hereditary rulers
- matrilinealDescended through maternal line
tattoos · woad · painted people · druids · Christianity · conversion · chroniclers · oral tradition
Poetic name for Scotland
- CaledoniaAncient name for Scotland
- HighlandsNamed elevated regions
- MorayScottish administrative region
- FifeEast Scottish peninsula
Inverness · Dundee · Aberdeen · Iona · Gaels · Scots · Britons · Norse
Sculpted decorative shapes
- crescentCurved sickle-like arc
- mirrorReflective viewing surface
- combToothed grooming implement
- serpentCunning, limbless reptile
eagle · bull · salmon · inscriptions · standing stones · petroglyphs · interlace · spirals
Fortified hilltop enclosures
- excavationAct of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- burial moundsEarthen heaps over graves
- settlementsEstablished communities or agreements
jewelry · metalwork · chainmail · Iron Age · antiquities · conservation · dig · heritage
warriors
People engaged in battle
matrilineal · tattoos · woad · painted people · druids · Christianity · conversion · chroniclers · oral tradition · feasting
Alba
Poetic name for Scotland
- CaledoniaAncient name for Scotland
- HighlandsNamed elevated regions
- MorayScottish administrative region
Fife · Inverness · Dundee · Aberdeen · Iona · Gaels · Scots · Britons · Norse · Vikings
carvings
Sculpted decorative shapes
serpent · eagle · bull · salmon · inscriptions · standing stones · petroglyphs · interlace · spirals · knotwork
hillforts
Fortified hilltop enclosures
- excavationAct of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- burial moundsEarthen heaps over graves
settlements · jewelry · metalwork · chainmail · Iron Age · antiquities · conservation · dig · heritage
enigma
Something hard to fathom
- lostUnable to navigate
- vanishedDisappeared from sight
- undecipheredNot yet interpreted
unknown · obscure · forgotten · absorbed · assimilated · debated · theories · origins · fate · legacy