Picts
Pre-medieval Scottish tribe
The Picts were an ancient people who inhabited what is now Scotland, known primarily from Roman accounts of their resistance to imperial expansion.
The name likely comes from a Latin word meaning "painted ones," referring to their supposed practice of tattooing or painting their bodies.
Little is known of their language or culture; they left behind carved stones with distinctive symbols.
The Picts merged with the Scots in the ninth century, forming the kingdom that became Scotland.
- Iron AgePost-bronze historical period
- ScotlandNorthern British nation
- tribesAncestral social groups
- kingdomsMonarch-ruled territories
warriors · Romans · Hadrian's Wall · confederacy · Alba · Britons · Gaels · Scots
Upright prehistoric monuments
- carvingsSculpted decorative shapes
- crescentCurved sickle-like arc
- serpentCunning, limbless reptile
- beastLarge wild animal
knotwork · interlace · incised · relief · spirals · animals · hunting scenes · metalwork
Words carved into surfaces
- place namesGeographic designations
- lost languageSpeech with no native speakers
- personal namesIdentifying labels for individuals
- untranslatedNot converted between languages
substrate · etymology · glosses · mysterious · unwritten · oral tradition
Fortified hilltop enclosures
- settlementsEstablished communities or agreements
- fortificationsDefensive barriers against attack
- excavationAct of unearthing
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
pins · pottery · burial practices · Orkney · Shetland
painted people
kingdoms · warriors · Romans · Hadrian's Wall · confederacy · Alba · Britons · Gaels · Scots · Dál Riata
standing stones
Upright prehistoric monuments
beast · knotwork · interlace · incised · relief · spirals · animals · hunting scenes · metalwork · brooches
inscriptions
Words carved into surfaces
- place namesGeographic designations
- lost languageSpeech with no native speakers
- personal namesIdentifying labels for individuals
untranslated · substrate · etymology · glosses · mysterious · unwritten · oral tradition
hillforts
Fortified hilltop enclosures
- settlementsEstablished communities or agreements
- fortificationsDefensive barriers against attack
- excavationAct of unearthing
artifacts · pins · pottery · burial practices · Orkney · Shetland
PictsAnglo-Saxons
Germanic peoples in medieval England
Saxons · Angles · Northumbrians · Romans · Scots
- take a pictureRecord a visual moment
- big pictureOverall perspective on things
- picture bookVolume with art-driven narrative
- the big pictureComprehensive view of situation
- picture frameDecorative border for images
- bigger pictureOverall perspective on something