The development of the Pictish symbol system: inscribing identity beyond the edges of Empire

Noble, Gordon; Goldberg, D Martin; Hamilton, Derek

The development of the Pictish symbol system: inscribing identity beyond the edges of Empire

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Journal article

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Noble, Gordon

Goldberg, D Martin

Hamilton, Derek

Abstract

The date of unique symbolic carvings, from various contexts across north and east Scotland, has been debated for over a century. Excavations at key sites and direct dating of engraved bone artefacts have allowed for a more precise chronology, extending from the third/fourth centuries AD, broadly contemporaneous with other non-vernacular scripts developed beyond the frontiers of the Roman Empire, to the ninth century AD. These symbols were probably an elaborate, non-alphabetic writing system, a Pictish response to broader European changes in power and identity during the transition from the Roman Empire to the early medieval period.