The Start of Scotland as a Country (Birth of a Nation)
Scotland is a country rich with diversity consisting of Scottish food, a
unique and rich language, quirky scottish names, a wide range of art
and Scottish poetry (much like Italy in many ways, but more of this
later)
Many text books start the history of Scotland with the arrival of the
Romans in the AD 79, as if that were the start of Scotlands rich
heritage. Whilst it is true that Agricola, a Roman general, was
accompanied by the historian Tacitus, and provided the first written
description of the people and of the region called Caledonia, it is
clear that history doesn't start then.
The country we now call Scotland had been continuously, if sparsely,
inhabited throughout its 4000 years, stretching almost halfway back to a
time of the last ice age. The North Sea had not fully formed, but hardy
communities of hunter-gatherers and semi nomadic pastoral groups had
made settlements around the coasts.
Inland the countryside was thickly covered with dense forests, marshes
and peat bogs. Wild grasses and heathers formed on the, still moving,
hills and mountains. The land was rich in natural species such as bear,
wolves, oxen and deer and provided rich pickings for these hunters and
nomadic tribes.
Whilst life was not easy for these existing tribes, slowly waves of
immigrants came up the shallow coasts of the North Sea and overland
through the country which was to become England. These new settlers with
their already tamed cattle and sheep and goats came from Europe, where
Homo Sapiens had been established for nearly 20,000 years. Pigs and dogs
may have become domesticated from the local wild stock and were often
brought with them, rather than trying to tame the natural species.
However making a home in what was still a densely forested area was
particularly hard for people equipped only with stone blades.
Even from the earliest times, the inhabitants of Scotland would have
realised that they were part of a wider economic structure. As
immigrants, they realised where they have come from and stone age man
who realised the importance of travel and trade.
Indeed early inhabitants of Scotland may have had as many languages as
those of New Guinea still do and the people who lived in stone built and
stone furnished house's in Orkney may have had no kinship, nor indeed
interaction, with those who lived in wooden lodges in the East and the
Glens. Progress was likely to have been uneven as groups arrived from
different starting points (countries) at different times. Now, what I
hear is you wondering what is the link with Italian Names or Art or Poetry etc. More of this
to follow with the next post.
