Added December 26, 1997. Updated November 28, 2000
Archaeological Signatures of Population Movements: The Case of Early Christian Ireland and Scotland.
The movement of Gaelic-speaking people from Northern Ireland to Scotland began in the fifth century. Subordinate Picts merged with the Irish and their distinctive language and culture disappeared. Like many European migrations of the last six millennia, this one involved the movement of dominant elites and the frequent absorption of subordinate local populations. The archaeological signatures of the process can be seen in the disappearance of Class I Pictish symbols and the spread of Christian symbolism. More complete understanding of the processes is possible only if one considers the archaeological evidence together with linguistic (mainly placename) and genetic evidence.
Dr. Dean R. Snow
Pennsylvania State University
409 Carpenter Building
University Park, PA 16802
USA
Tel. (814) 865-2509, Fax (814)
863-1474, drs17@psu.edu
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