What do you think, which of the peoples that ever lived in Scotland was considered the most ancient? These are the Picts. If you translate the name into Russian, you get "painted".
This people is one of the least studied - very little is known about it. Some believe that the ancestors of this people were the first Proto-Indo-European migrants who ended up on this island in the early Bronze Age.
Nevertheless, this people left behind many ancient artifacts. The most famous of them are the stone monuments that have received the exact same name - "Pictish".
They are stones with mysterious drawings and symbols carved on them. There are a lot of similar stones on the territory of modern Scotland.
Researchers believe that these stones could have been made from the 3rd to the 10th century AD. Archaeologists suggested that these drawings could be symbols of a very ancient language and have been trying to decipher these "texts" for quite a long time.
A huge disadvantage of such ancient artifacts is that they cannot be studied using radiocarbon analysis methods, because there are no organic materials in such stones.
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Therefore, with the accuracy of determining the age of these artifacts, huge problems arose - archaeologists had to be guided by indirect evidence and rough estimates.
And as a result, during the next archaeological excavations, the researchers nevertheless discovered an ancient hearth in which there were remains of charcoal, but it can be investigated by radiocarbon analysis methods.
They found him on the territory of an ancient fort on the east coast of the country.
Researchers suggest that the Pictish language may have arisen at the same time as other local languages, such as:
1) Ogamic writing in Ireland
2) Runic system in Scandinavia
According to official history, the first Romans appeared in Great Britain before our era.
And researchers have suggested that, instead of using Latin, the Pictish people could have created their own writing style, taking on the Roman notation system.
It is also interesting that such Pictish stones were found mainly in iconic places, and some of the symbols on them could denote the names of local rulers.
However, the origins of Pictish symbols are very difficult to figure out if you rely on other ancient forms of alphabetic scripts, for these symbols are not like anything at all.
Some researchers believe that this language is unlikely to ever be deciphered.
This is possible only if you find some text written in pictogram and in some of the ancient languages known to science. Therefore, archaeological excavations in this area will continue.