Perceptions of the Picts: from Eumenius to John Buchan

by Anna Ritchie                                                                         download

Anna Ritchie has focussed her life's work on Scotland's prehistoric and early medieval past. Her research interests lie on Pictish and Viking studies and in the neolithic of the Northern Isles, on which she has written numerous papers and books.

She directed the excavations at the seminal Pictish and Viking-age site at Buckquoy in Orkney and undertook research for hte Pictish and Viking galleries in Tankerness House Museum in Kirkwall. Subsequent excavations  include the neolithic settlement at Knap of Howar on Papa Westray and the chambered cairn of Holm of Papa Westray North.

As a freelance archaeologist she has also been a member of the Ancient Monuments Board for Scotland and a Trustee of the National Museums of Scotland.

This pdf is the text of the Groam House Museum Annual Academic Lecture given in 1993. It explores the ways in which ideas about the Picts have evolved over the last 1,700 years. Her starting point is a poem by Eumenius in AD297, with a progression via John Buchan to the present day.

If you would like to find out more about Anna Ritchie's other publications or see where this booklet has been cited, use the links below:

Google Scholar search for publications by Anna Ritchie

Google Scholar search for citations of Perceptions of the Picts: from Eumenius to John Buchan