Changing diets in Pictish Portmahomack

Current Archaeology ^ | July 1, 2020 | Amy Brunskill

[SunkenCiv]

Interestingly, there is no evidence that this community ate any marine or freshwater fish, despite the fact that it would have been readily available in their coastal location. Archaeological evidence of naval bases, depictions of boats and sea beasts on Pictish stones, and references in literature demonstrate that Pictish communities had a relationship with the sea and would have been able to fish. However, images of salmon in Pictish carvings could indicate that fish had some symbolic importance, and it has been suggested that the consumption of all fish was deliberately avoided, or reserved for a select few.

The Picts who lived in the monastery that was built on the site c.AD 700 appear to have had a similar diet to their predecessors, although they may have consumed more meat. Additionally, a small quantity of fish bones was found, indicating that, although it was rare, fish was occasionally consumed by the monks. One burial, a middle-aged man, stood out from the others as having a much higher carbon-isotope ratio than the others, suggesting that he may have been a higher-status individual, perhaps the head of the monastery, who had privileged rights to eat fish.

The monastery declined after a Viking raid c.AD 800 (see CA 205 and 321), and it appears that the local lay population in the mid to late medieval period ate much more fish, possibly as a result of changing religious and cultural practices that allowed for the replacement of meat with fish during fasting, in addition to an increase in the fishing trade in Britain.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, it didn't go well for the Picts. Similarly, it didn't go well for them when it was just the Scots.

[wildbill]

Obviously your female ancestors were the Picts of the litter.