Learning Objective: To find out who the Picts and Scots were and where they lived.
NEXT www.planbee.com What can you remember about who the Anglo-Saxons were?
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com Jutes, Angles and Saxons invaded Britain after the Romans left. They came from Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands. Eventually they became known as the Anglo-Saxons. They conquered the Britons who were living in England and pushed them north. They settled and set up farms, homes and villages.
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com The Anglo-Saxons managed to conquer a large part of Britain but there was one area that they couldn’t conquer straight away. In fact, it took a few hundred years.
Where do you think this area might have been?
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com Just like the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons were not able to conquer the people living in the north of Britain (in what is now Scotland) because it was settled by two groups of people: the Picts and the Scots.
Do you know anything about the Picts and Scots?
What do you think these groups of people might have been like?
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com This map shows where the Picts and Scots lived when the Anglo-Saxons had Picts settled in Britain. You can see the Scots Grampian mountains on this map which acted as a natural barrier between the Picts and the Scots.
The Picts had been in this area since the Mesolithic era. The first recorded mention of them was by a Roman writer in the 3rd century AD. He described the ‘pictus’ as being fierce and skilled in battle. Some people think the name Picts come from the Latin ‘pictus’ meaning ‘painted’.
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com The Scots called themselves Gaels. ‘Scots’ comes from the name the Romans gave the Gaels - the Scotti. It is believed that this name meant ‘pirate’. The Gaels lived in western Scotland, the Western Isles and Ireland. Until fairly recently, historians believed that the Scots invaded western Scotland from Ireland but there is no archaeological evidence to show this. It is more likely that they too had been in the area since the Mesolithic era. The barrier of the Grampian mountains meant that they didn’t share a culture with the Picts. Instead, they were much closer to Ireland which was only a short sea voyage away. This is why they shared the same culture as the Irish.
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com The Anglo-Saxons mention the Picts and Scots in their writings. They are often portrayed as wild savages. In the 6th century, the historian Gildas described them as ‘foul hordes’ and this idea of them being barbarians stuck.
This picture of a Pictish woman was engraved in the 15th century. It shows a woman wearing nothing but a belt around her waist and paint! How accurate do you think this painting is?
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com Scotland is a pretty cold country for most of the time. It is therefore unlikely that the Picts and Scots only painted their bodies. They would have needed clothes to keep warm. In the 19th century, a child’s hood was found that had been preserved in a bog, as well as a complete leather shoe.
This is a Pictish stone carving. There are lots of carved stones from the Picts we can look at for evidence of how they lived. What does this picture tell you about what the Picts wore?
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com Both Picts and Scots grew crops like barley and oats. They also kept animals like sheep, pigs and cattle. They would have raised these animals for food, as well as for their hides, bones and horns. They also hunted animals using crossbows.
Historians know that the Scots had wine, salt, glass and red and purple dyes. They got these through trading with France. The Scots were very good sailors. They used ships to sail between Scotland and Ireland, and between their islands.
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com The Scots and the Picts often fought each other. Sometimes the Picts were more powerful and sometimes the Scots were. There were also battles between the Picts, Scots and Anglo-Saxons. Each group was constantly trying to gain more land and power from the others.
How similar do you think the lives In what ways might of the Picts, Scots and their lives have been Anglo-Saxons were? different?
BACK NEXT www.planbee.com The lifestyle of the Picts, Scots and Anglo-Saxons would have been very similar in lots of ways. Each had lands separated into kingdoms. Each farmed, reared animals and hunted. Each would have worn clothes made from woven wool and leather. However, they had different cultures. This means they each had their own language, their own art and their own stories and traditions.
Today we are going to be finding out more about the Picts and Scots. Who is ready to do some research?
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