Sally Foster’s book Picts, Gaels and Scots will already be familiar to many of you. It’s an essential resource for anyone who has a keen interest in early medieval Scotland. I have a copy of the first edition (1996) but merely borrowed rather than bought the second (2004). I’ve now got the third edition, published last year by Birlinn of Edinburgh.
Sally Foster is a renowned archaeologist who formerly worked as an ancient monuments inspector for Historic Scotland. She now works in academia and is currently at the University of Stirling as a lecturer on heritage and conservation, having previously lectured in the archaeology departments at Glasgow and Aberdeen.
Picts, Gaels and Scots is an archaeological and historical survey of Scotland in the Early Historic period (fifth to tenth centuries AD). The emphasis is on material culture – artefacts and sites – but a range of other topics are also covered: economy, religion, warfare, kingship and literacy. By drawing on the latest research, Dr Foster brings us up to date with the current state of knowledge on the Picts and their neighbours. Accompanying her text are drawings, photographs and maps, with a plate section of colour illustrations. The bibliography at the end of the book is a good indicator of how much new research has been undertaken since the 2004 edition. The ensuing years have witnessed some major re-thinking by historians on a number of important issues – such as the location of the Pictish kingdom of Fortriu – as well as new interpretations of archaeological data. What therefore emerges from this latest edition is a clearer picture of what was happening in the northern parts of Britain in the first millennium AD.
The author’s foreword is an informative and enlightening essay in its own right, a detailed summary of the advances in scholarship that have been made in the past 10 years. It can be read online at the Birlinn blog via the link below.
Sally Foster: Foreword to the 2014 edition of Picts, Gaels and Scots.
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Senchus 