Discovering the Picts: From Enemies of Rome to Powerful Kingdoms of Early Medieval Scotland

Discovering the Picts: From Enemies of Rome to Powerful Kingdoms of Early Medieval Scotland - Prof Gordon Noble The Picts were first mentioned in late Roman sources and went on to become powerful rulers of northern Britain in what is now Northeast Scotland. Bereft of detailed historical sources, archaeological evidence is needed to illuminate the Pictish period. The Northern Picts project at the University of Aberdeen has been running for ten years and has provided dramatic new evidence for the Picts, their power centres and their iconic symbol stones. This talk will highlight some of the major successes of the project and provide an update on recent progress. BIOGRAPHY Professor Gordon Noble has undertaken landscape research and directed field projects across Scotland. He has worked on a wide range of landscapes and archaeology projects from the Mesolithic to Medieval periods. He was director and co-founder of Strathearn & Royal Forteviot (SERF), a successful archaeological project researching a site that became one of Scotland’s early royal centres. He now works on two major projects. The first, Northern Picts, is funded by the University of Aberdeen Development Trust and Historic Environment Scotland and is focused on the post-Roman societies of northern Britain. The second, Comparative Kingship, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, is examining the early royal landscapes of Ireland and Scotland.