Page 35 - Archaeology - October 2017

LOST

KINGDOM
Iron pin

OF THE

BRITONS

A doomed hillfort in far
southwestern Scotland may have
been a royal stronghold

by Daniel Weiss

oman rule of Britain ended in the early
fifth century a.d., and in the ensuing power
vacuum, a variety of warring kingdoms grew
up. Writing around a.d. 540, the monk Gildas
decried the general breakdown in order during
R what has come to be known as the Dark Ages:
“Britain has Kings, but they are tyrants; she has judges, but they
Leatherworking tool are wicked. They often plunder and terrorize the innocent; they
defend and protect the guilty and thieving…they wage wars civil
and unjust…they despise the harmless and humble, but exalt…
their military companies, bloody, proud, and murderous men.”
Given that Gildas provides one of the few written accounts
from the time, archaeology has played a key role in providing
insights into the nature of these kingdoms. In the Argyll region
of western Scotland, archaeologists have uncovered Dunadd,
the chief settlement of Dalriada, the earliest Scots kingdom.
In eastern Scotland at Edinburgh Castle, they have unearthed
Artifacts found at a what is thought to be Din Eidyn, the royal fortification of the
Scottish hillfort (clockwise Brittonic kingdom of Gododdin. And in northeastern England,
from upper right) indicate they have explored the remains of Bamburgh, the headquarters
the power and wealth
of its residents: A once- of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.
ornate iron pin, skillfully There is, however, one major Dark Ages kingdom of north-
hammered into shape; ern Britain that has remained elusive. The Brittonic kingdom
a socketed tool used to of Rheged is known from poetic and historical sources, and
work leather; pottery is thought to have been based in northwestern England or
from Gaul, suggesting
the fort’s connection with southwestern Scotland. However, past attempts to locate it
robust trading routes; a in places such as Carlisle, in northwestern England, where
glass bead dating to the it was long thought to have been situated, have turned up
site’s earliest settlement; nothing. Now, a pair of archaeologists—Chris Bowles of the
slingshot ammunition in Scottish Borders Council and Ronan Toolis of Guard Archae-
the form of river stones;
an Anglo-Saxon-style ology—believe they may have found Rheged’s stronghold at
horse mount, possibly a complex site known as Trusty’s Hill in Galloway, a region in
once gilded and silvered. the far southwest of Scotland.

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