Aren’t things always like that? It’s not always easy to meet someone who has striking features, sharp eyes, and a strong jawline. But then, you realize that they aren’t really as you imagined.
This, it seems, is decidedly the case for the Blair Atholl Man, a 45-year-old, 5’10” hunk buried in the Pictish style in the Scottish Highlands some 1,630 years ago.
He was found in Bridge of Tilt, Perthshire in 1986. In 2017, he was reconstructed in striking detail and displayed as an example of an old Pict.
However, a new chemical isotope analysis by archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen has revealed that Blair Atholl Man was not a local after all.
In fact, the team said, the man likely grew up on Scotland’s western coast, perhaps on one of the islands in the Hebrides, or even in further-flung Ireland.
The area that is now Perthshire was a growing centre of Christianity at the time. This teased the possibility the Blair Atholl Man might have been a missionary.
These findings, in any case, add to the growing evidence of people moving long distances across early medieval Scotland.
Found in Perthshire in 1985, Blair Atholl Man was immortalised in a striking reconstruction in 2017 (pictured) — and presented as an example of an ancient Pict. New chemical analysis from archaeologists at the University of Aberdeen has revealed that Blair Atholl Man may not have been a local. He could have even come from Western Scotland, or Ireland.
The study was undertaken by archaeologist and stable isotope expert Orsolya Czére of the University of Aberdeen and her colleagues.
Their first step was to measure the ratio of sulfur isotopes within collagen taken from Blair Atholl Man’s bones.
Living near a coastline can influence sulphur levels in your body.
Blair Atholl Man’s high levels of sulphur Isotopes suggest that “he spent most of his late life somewhere else, close to a coastline location, and may therefore have been relative newcomer” [Bridge of Tilt] area,’ Ms Czére told Live Science.
Next the team focused their attention on isotope ratios within Blair Atholl Man’s tooth enamel. This would have formed during Blair Atholl Man’s childhood.
These indications indicated that the man was born in an area of older rock formations than those seen outcropping in central Scotland.
Additionally, it must have occurred in an area that has a warmer climate such as the Western Scottish coast.
‘Strontium and oxygen isotope data suggest this individual did not spend their childhood in the immediate area,’ the team explained in their paper.
Instead, they added, analysis ‘indicates a more westerly childhood origin, in areas that could include Mull, Iona, Tiree, Coll, Skye or even parts of Ireland.’
The skeletal remains of Blair Atholl Man were uncovered in a long cist (a small, stone-built coffin-like box) in the village of Bridge of Tilt — adjacent to Blair Atholl, pictured — back in 1986, as a result of construction work on a house
“What we know is that Blair Atholl Man, a remote area of Pictland was his birthplace,” stated Kate Britton (paper co-author).
The University of Aberdeen archaeologist said that he had moved to the region to be buried in accordance with the Picts’ funerary practices.
Researchers were still able to analyze Blair Atholl Man’s collagen for carbon and nitrogen, which allowed them to determine what Blair Atholl Man ate during the past five to ten years.
The data revealed that Blair Atholl Man likely had a ‘diet strikingly similar to what we’ve been seeing throughout early medieval Scotland,’ explained Ms Czére.
According to the archaeologist, this meant that he probably ate freshwater fish such as waterfowl and wild boar.
The study, Ms Czére concluded, allowed the team to not only ‘paint a picture of an individual who lived and died more than 1,500 years ago.
She said, “But also in order to get direct information regarding the early connections between communities and cultures across Scotland in this first millennium,” she continued.
The grave was dated to around 340–615 AD, and studies of the remains suggested that the man — assumed to be a Pict, given the setting — died at around the relatively old age of 45. Pictured: while there were no grave goods in the cist, the end was close off with a rounded stone (pictured) which may have been a quern for grinding grain, a lid for a storage vessel or perhaps a support for a post
According to Professor Britton, other dig sites — in particular at the villages of Lundin Links and Cramond along Scotland’s eastern coast — have yielded evidence of people travelling considerable distances in the time of the Picts.
Live Science reported that “These kinds of movements may not be uncommon.”
‘What is interesting is that at both those east-coast sites, our west-coasters were females, suggesting that both men and women — and perhaps for a variety of reasons — were making these journeys,’ she added.
All findings from the study were published by the Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal.
Who were the PICTS?
Picts are a collective of various tribes that lived in today’s eastern and northern Scotland, during the Late Iron Age or early Medeival periods between around 270 and900AD.
The tribal confederation was formed by a group of people who felt the need to unite against common foes like the Romans and Britons.
These men have been viewed as brave savages, who defeated Rome’s most powerful legions and refused surrender to their rights to live in a conventional society.
You might not deserve this wild reputation.
Their Anglo-Saxon relatives were actually more successful than them in creating a sophisticated culture north of Scotland.
Mel Gibson’s Blue Face Paint in Braveheart is an homage to Pictish body-paint tradition (photo courtesy of Mel Gibson).
Their intelligence, work ethic, and skill in many areas has been documented.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the ‘lost’ populations – somewhat lost from history – were capable and capable of making great art, as well as beautiful monasteries.
Picti, the Roman name Picti for these people, means “painted people”. We don’t know what their names were.
Mel Gibson uses blue face paint to reference the Pictish tradition. But the Picts actually fought naked and records show that they did so as far back as the 5th Century.
Even though the tribe was known for its ferocity, the habit of fighting naked in cold Scottish conditions didn’t hurt their reputation.
Picts ruled the area north of Firth of Forth, Scotland. This was one of many reasons why even heavy-armoured Roman legions couldn’t conquer Scotland.
Around 900AD, the mysterious disappearance of Picts from recorded history is a mystery.
Experts think they may have merged with the south Scots. They already had a written history and combined their histories.