Novantae

The Novantae were people of the Iron age, as recorded in Ptolemy's Geography (written c. 150AD). The Novantae are thought to have lived in what is now Galloway and Carrick, in southwesternmost Scotland.

While the Novantae are assumed to be Celts, their specific ethnicity and culture have been the subject of debate for centuries. While Bede referred to a people called the Niduarian and suggested these were Picts,^[1] the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.) described them as "a tribe of Celtic Gaels called Novantae or Atecott Picts."^[2] Scottish author Edward Grant Ries has identified the Novantae (along with other early tribes of southern Scotland) as a Brythonic-speaking culture.^[3]

Modern archeological excavations at Rispain Camp, near Whithorn, suggest that a large fortified farmstead was occupied between 100 BC and 200 AD, indicating that the people living in the area at that time were engaged in agriculture.

^ Rhys 1904:223, Celtic Britain
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Kirkcudbrightshire" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 831–833, see page 832, para 4. History.—The country west of the Nith was originally peopled by a tribe of Celtic Gaels called Novantae, or Atecott Picts...
^ Ries, Edward Grant (21 October 2010). "Scotland during the Roman Empire" (PDF). Electric Scotland. Retrieved 2016-09-27.

[1] Rhys 1904:223, Celtic Britain

[2] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Kirkcudbrightshire" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 831–833, see page 832, para 4. History.—The country west of the Nith was originally peopled by a tribe of Celtic Gaels called Novantae, or Atecott Picts...

[3] Ries, Edward Grant (21 October 2010). "Scotland during the Roman Empire" (PDF). Electric Scotland. Retrieved 2016-09-27.

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