Portmahomack

Portmahomack today is a serene fishing village on the Dornoch Firth, north east Scotland where archaeological excavations have written a new history of the origins of Scotland. This book brings alive the expedition and its discoveries, most famously a monastery of the eighth century in the land of the Picts.
Starting from chance finds of a Pictish carved stone in St Colman's churchyard, the archaeologists unearthed four settlements one on top of the other. An elite farm was succeeded by the Pictish monastery, which, following a Viking raid in AD800, became a trading place and then a medieval village. Scientific analysis shows at each stage where the people came from, their life-style and what they ate. Together it creates a story of the heroic adaptation of a European nation to new politics between the sixth and sixteenth century.
The Picts were the outstanding sculptors of their day, producing carved stone monuments equal to anything being made in contemporary Europe. They were Britons, who resisted the Romans invaders and created their own warrior nation in the north east of the island. Coming under pressure from the Scots and the Norse, they disappeared from history in the ninth century AD. Now archaeology is finding them again.
This massively updated new edition follows eight years intensive research on the huge assemblage of artefacts, human bone, animal bone and plant remains that were recovered. This has revealed a world of high mobility, rich in ideas and constantly changing it political orientation in a greater European context.

“'Carver's meticulous work has illuminated the discussion of Pictish monasticism, and given context for the unparalleled sculpture of the Tarbat Peninsula, marking this as one of the most remarkable early medieval sites in Western Europe... The second edition allows us to see how post-excavation analysis further revolutionised our understanding, connecting the fifth to seventh century occupants with a horse riding warrior aristocracy with links across Britain, a theme which resonates on the later cross-slabs on the Peninsula.'”

Martin Carver is Professor emeritus, Department of Archaeology, University of York.

A thousand formative years in the making of Scotland - an archaeological windowPortmahomack today is a serene fishing village on the Dornoch Firth, north-east Scotland, where archaeological excavations have written a new history of the origins of Scotland. This book brings alive the research expedition and its discoveries, most famously a monastery of the eighth century in the land of the Picts.Starting from chance finds of a Pictish carved stone in St Colman's churchyard, the archaeologists unearthed four settlements one on top of the other. An elite farm was succeeded by the Pictish monastery, which, following a Viking raid in around AD 800, became a trading place and then a medieval village. Scientific analysis shows at each stage where the people came from, their lifestyle and what they ate. Together it creates a story of the heroic adaptation of a European nation to new politics between the sixth and sixteenth centuries.The Picts were the outstanding sculptors of their day, producing carved stone monuments equal to anything being made in contemporary Europe. They were Britons, who resisted the Romans invaders and created their own warrior nation in the north-east of the island. Coming under pressure from the Scots and the Norse, they disappeared from history in the ninth century AD. Now archaeology is finding them again.This comprehensively updated new edition follows eight years' intensive research on the huge assemblage of artefacts, human-bone, animal-bone and plant remains that were recovered. This has revealed a world of high mobility, rich in ideas and constantly changing its political orientation in a greater European context.Martin Carver was an army officer for fifteen years, a commercial archaeologist for thirteen and Professor of Archaeology at the University of York from 1986 to 2007. He has created two commercial archaeology units (Birmingham Archaeology and FAS-Heritage Ltd) and initiated two museums (at Sutton Hoo and Portmahomack). He has carried out archaeological research in England, Scotland, France, Italy and Algeria and is the author of Archaeological Investigation (2009).Cover image: detail from the 'Dragon stone' (TR20)

Portmahomack today is a serene fishing village on the Dornoch Firth, north east Scotland where archaeological excavations have written a new history of the origins of Scotland. This book brings alive the expedition and its discoveries, most famously a monastery of the eighth century in the land of the Picts. Starting from chance finds of a Pictish carved stone in St Colman's churchyard, the archaeologists unearthed four settlements one on top of the other. An elite farm was succeeded by the Pictish monastery, which, following a Viking raid in AD800, became a trading place and then a medieval village. Scientific analysis shows at each stage where the people came from, their life-style and what they ate. Together it creates a story of the heroic adaptation of a European nation to new politics between the sixth and sixteenth century. The Picts were the outstanding sculptors of their day, producing carved stone monuments equal to anything being made in contemporary Europe. They were Britons, who resisted the Romans invaders and created their own warrior nation in the north east of the island. Coming under pressure from the Scots and the Norse, they disappeared from history in the ninth century AD. Now archaeology is finding them again. This massively updated new edition follows eight years intensive research on the huge assemblage of artefacts, human bone, animal bone and plant remains that were recovered. This has revealed a world of high mobility, rich in ideas and constantly changing it political orientation in a greater European context.

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