The Picts are a ‘lost people of Europe’ and a past society of enduring public fascination. First mentioned in late Roman writings as a collection of troublesome social groupings north of the Roman frontier, the Picts went on to dominate northern and eastern Scotland until late first millennium AD. The emergence of the Pictish kingdoms was part of broader change in northern Europe that laid the foundations for the modern nation states of Europe. The major legacies of the Picts include some of the most spectacular archaeological sites and artistic achievements of Early Medieval European society. However, all trace of the Picts disappeared from the written records in the 9th century AD, and only limited and contentious documentary sources survive.

Northern Picts is a project that aims to uncover the archaeological traces of Pictish society in northern Scotland. The project to date has had some spectacular successes. We have begun to uncover a major and undocumented Pictish royal centre at Rhynie and discovered a significant portion of a major Pictish silver hoard at Gaulcross. We have scaled sea cliffs to discover forgotten Pictish forts and centres of power.

National Geographic video on one of the excavation sites:

New video on Pictish discoveries: