Tiibal interaction
In view of the territoriality and social fragmentation that seems to characterize the middle centuries of the first millennium BC, the lack of evidence for inter-tribal contact prior to the Roman incursions conies as little surprise. Steatite, found only in Shetland, was transported to Orkney and to a few sites on the west coast, but apparently not in any significant quantities. Similarly, iron ore must have been traded to some extent, as presumably was timber for the construction of monumental roundhouses in largely treeless areas; but trade in these raw materials is always hard to document.
Better evidence for tribal interaction comes from the occasional appearance of exotic building forms; for example, the 'Wessex-like' ramparts at Burnswark hillfort in Dumfriesshire or the scattered examples of chevaux-de-frise (see chapter 4). The movement of high-status individuals, perhaps by marriage or as mercenaries, may be the best explanation for such otherwise mysterious occurrences. Other sporadic finds, such as coral from the fort at Broxmouth, may reflect similar events.
The lack of evidence for routine trading contacts, however, does not reflect a lack of appropriate technologies. Early boats recovered from the Humber estuary suggest that both dug-outs and oak plank vessels, around 15m (50ft) long, would have carried traders, fishermen and warriors around the coasts and along the navigable rivers of the pre-Roman north. Water-borne journeys would have been much swifter and easier than travel over land. Nonetheless, wheeled vehicles had been introduced as early as 1000 BC, as a solid wooden wheel pulled from the Blair Drummond Moss in Stirlingshire testifies, and we know almost nothing of the tracks that might have crisscrossed Scotland before the emplacement of the Roman road network.
Yet. despite sporadic contacts, from around 700-200 BC Scotland appears to have been peopled by self-contained and insular communities. From a background of common languages and conventions, melded in the comparatively cosmopolitan Bronze Age. highly localized traditions and customs would have evolved, dialects would have diverged and cultural differences between communities greatly increased. It is in this context that the tribal groups encountered by the Roman army are perhaps most likely to have emerged.
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