Digging for Britain

I know, that was fascinating. We could have missed out the bit from Durham to fit it in.

Yes, the Roman decimation of Scotland is rarely mentioned. They had already been there and decided there was nothing they needed in Scotland that they couldn't get from England.
Hence the wall.

The Scots kept fighting and raiding. So he ordered a decimation. This devastation changed the population make up of Scotland permanently. I think, and I'm dredging my mind here, that this is when the Picts in the North took over. The Scots disappeared almost entirely (most were dead).

I think the story that the Romans couldn't conquer Scotland and therefore didn't try, because the tribes were too strong is a kind of Walter Scott invention of the Victorian era - and it stuck, because it fit the trope of Scottish independence.

And when the programme went to Scotland I thought we were going to get a link in the story. Instead we got some earnest bearded chap trying to convince us that the picts had a big Fort above the snow line that they lived in all year. Very likely. That would have been stupid. They would have had other forts for the winter, when typically there was very little fighting going on.

Had a brain burst. Nobody knows what any of the tribes were actually called. We only know what the Romans called them.

It was the Caledonia they most likely decimated. Although all modern Scottish historians dispute it and it is nigh on impossible to find one who even favours it. It was historically a fact for centuries, but is not in fashion now. Still the Picti survived and the Scotti came over from Ireland and filled the gaps the Caledonia had left. If the Romans didn't decimate the Caledonia then it's unlikely the Scotti would've been able to take the land, because there is no evidence the Picts did it.

Of course the Romans were in Scotland. They even built the Antonine Wall about 150 miles north of Hadrian's Wall.

Only the fall of the Roman Empire stopped them ultimately taking over completely and by then apart from occasional raids nothing much was happening and trade was taking place. There is plenty of archaeological evidence of their presence.

The land between the two walls was run as Roman territory. Some think it was called Valentia. Others think that was what they named Wales.

Who knows.

He is, and he authorised the decimation. Everyone agrees there was a large battle in or around the Grampians. Nobody is sure who was fighting the Romans.

He was definitely in Carlisle.

Everyone agrees the Caledonia disappear from history and the Scotti invade from Ireland probably taking advantage of the confusion after the battle.

There is definitely a second wall. The Antonine Wall.

It was accepted history that there was an authorised decimation. However, because nobody detailed it, over time Scottish historians have watered this down to one battle and some raids.

Decimation is not just a word. Roman decimations were exactly what you think. They meant leave nobody alive. They meant genocide. They are documented in other parts of the Empire. If an Emperor ordered one, his army would do what he asked.

They may only have done this in the 50 to 100 miles above Hadrian's Wall. People may have fled, but there's no doubt many would have been killed on the way to the Grampian battle which the Romans won, and on the way back.

We don't know much about population levels in Scotland at that time, but similar to Northern England is likely. Mostly rural, with tribal groups, possibly moving around with the seasons.

In the programme she talk about violent times, the biggest loss of life. Perhaps historians are moving back to favouring early history.

Mind you some Scottish historians will still play with words e.g.

Were the Romans in Scotland? There was no Scotland then.

Did the Romans subjugate most Scottish tribes? There were no Scottish tribes then.

See what I mean.

I lifted that last bit from CBeebies History Bitesize and that is actually what the Scottish Historian was saying.

It's become a proper cliche, hasn't it?

Did you watch last night's with the Waterloo Dead?