Mysterious ‘painted people’ of Scotland are long gone, but their DNA lives on

Published

2 years ago

April 28, 2023

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Ancient DNA reveals that the Picts, the “painted people” of Scotland who fought off the Romans, weren’t an enigmatic group that migrated from faraway lands. Instead, the Picts had local roots and were related to other Iron Age people in Britain, a new study finds.

An analysis of eight skeletons from two Pictish cemeteries, published Thursday (April 27) in the journal PLOS Genetics (opens in new tab) , also suggests that the Picts did not organize their society around the female bloodline, contrary to what historians have long suggested.

The Picts, named from the Latin word “picti” for their reported use of body paint or tattoos, were a people who, in the third century A.D., resisted Roman rule and formed their own kingdom in northern Britain that lasted until around A.D. 900. There is very little written information about the Picts — much of what they wrote is in a unique and hard-to-translate script called ogham — and only a few of their settlements and cemeteries have been found.

The general lack of sources about the Picts and their way of life has led to numerous assumptions over the centuries. In the eighth century, during the early medieval period, for example, historians such as the Venerable Bede thought that the Picts emigrated from areas around the Aegean Sea or Eastern Europe and that they traced descent matrilineally, through the mother’s side.

Archaeologists and historians have begun to tackle the “Pictish problem” in recent years, however, to develop a better understanding of this culture.

Related: Unknown symbols written by the lost ‘painted people’ of Scotland unearthed

Photograph of the 1965 Lundin Links excavation showing burials. (Image credit: Moira Greig)

In the newly published study, an international team of researchers extracted genetic information from eight human skeletons buried in two Pictish cemeteries — seven from Lundin Links and one from Balintore in modern-day Scotland.

“Lundin Links is one of the few excavated and well-dated monumental cemeteries from the Early Medieval (Pictish) period in Scotland,” study co-author Linus Girdland Flink (opens in new tab) , an archaeogeneticist at the University of Aberdeen, told Live Science in an email. According to past research (opens in new tab) , the cemetery dates to A.D. 450 to 650 and holds the remains of a couple dozen people.

Human remains from the Pictish period are scarce, but the sandy soils at Lundin Links are more conducive to long-term preservation because they are less acidic than soil in other areas of Scotland. “This suggested to us that DNA may also be preserved and prompted further investigation,” Girdland Flink said.

The team was able to extract a nearly complete genome, or set of a person’s genes, from one skeleton from each of the two cemeteries. Both genomes, when compared with those of other ancient and modern groups from the British Isles, “reveal a close genetic affinity to Iron Age populations from Britain,” the researchers wrote in the study, but show differences as well that are likely related to migration events and intermarriage with other groups.

From all seven Lundin Links skeletons, researchers were able to isolate mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) information, which is passed from mother to child, allowing them to look into the assumption about matrilineal Picts. But none of the people whose mtDNA they analyzed shared immediate maternal ancestors, which means they “were unlikely to have been practicing matrilocality,” according to the study.

Photograph of the 1965 Lundin Links excavation showing burial up close. (Image credit: Moira Greig)

The team also found that the Picts’ genes persist in modern-day people who live in western Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Northumbria (a medieval kingdom that now includes parts of northern England and southeastern Scotland), indicating that, even though their culture disappeared, their genes didn’t.Related stories—Artificial islands surrounding British Isles were used for ancient parties, archaeologists find

—Rare medieval script discovered on stone carved by Scotland’s ‘Painted People’

—’Painted People’ in Scotland developed written language 1,700 years ago

“This paper is a welcome and overdue addition of Scottish samples to the growing literature on the paleogenetic study of the early medieval period,” Adrián Maldonado (opens in new tab) , a research fellow at National Museums Scotland who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email. “It is more evidence that the inhabitants of north-eastern Scotland were not some shadowy relic population, untouched by time.”

It’s a limitation that the study presents just two genomes from individuals in cemeteries 100 miles (160 kilometers) apart, Maldonado noted, but it’s still a helpful step forward. “I eagerly await a larger dataset, including not just ‘Picts’ but their neighbors and descendants in later centuries, preferably joined with other proxies for mobility from stable isotope analysis,” he said. “Only then will we have a clearer picture of the transformation of society in these critical post-Roman centuries.”

Additional research on Pictish Scotland is already underway, according to a statement by study first author Adeline Morez (opens in new tab) , who completed the work while at Liverpool John Moores University and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), including excavation of new sites, chemical analysis of dietary habits and migration, and further DNA work.

Politics

Ecosystem health is the missing link to blockchain’s long-term success

Published

53 mins ago

January 23, 2025

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Ecosystem health is the missing link to blockchain’s long-term success

Ecosystem health is the key to blockchain’s long-term success. Cultivating transparency, strong developer tools and engaged communities, blockchain networks can grow securely and sustainably.

UK

Mabli Hall: Woman jailed for four years for causing eight-month-old baby’s death

Published

53 mins ago

January 23, 2025

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Mabli Hall: Woman jailed for four years for causing eight-month-old baby's death

A woman has been sentenced to four years in prison for causing the death of an eight-month-old baby by dangerous driving.

Bridget Curtis, 71, had previously pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mabli Cariad Hall outside Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire.

Mabli was airlifted to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff after she was hit by a white BMW on Wednesday 21 June 2023.

She was later moved to Bristol Royal Hospital for Children where she died four days later.

‘Entirely tragic’

Swansea Crown Court heard Mabli and her family were visiting her grandmother, who was receiving end-of-life care at the hospital, when the crash happened.

Prosecuting, Craig Jones said it was an “entirely tragic” case.

He said Mabli was “very nearly nine months” when she died, a day when the weather conditions were “fine and dry”.

Mabli was with her father in a grassed area under some trees opposite the hospital’s entrance.

“Mr Hall put Mabli back into her pushchair and was adjusting the straps when he heard the sound of an approaching vehicle,” Mr Jones said.

The court heard that Curtis had given her daughter a lift to the hospital for an appointment and had stopped the car outside the main entrance.

After she was dropped off, her daughter went to retrieve her handbag from the back of the car but was “unable to see the bag and tapped the window to attract her mother’s attention”.

“With the engine running, [the defendant] turned around from her seat to look in the back,” he said.

“The defendant had failed to switch off the vehicle and had failed to place the car, which was an automatic-geared vehicle, into a parked setting.”

In a period of four and a half seconds, the vehicle reached a top speed of 29 miles per hour and travelled a distance of 28 metres.

‘So beautiful’

In a victim impact statement, Rob Hall told the court he remembered Mabli “smiling at [him], making her cute noises”.

He said the “violent revving, screeching tyres” of the car was something he saw and heard “daily”.

Mr Hall said that after Mabli’s death, his family “were numb, felt helpless and destroyed”.

“This struggle continues to this day, and will always be there. Life from then until now has been horrendous. It’s been so hard to live this life,” he said.

“It’s exhausting, we’re drained, and I just don’t know how we recover from such trauma.”

Mabli’s mother, Gwen Hall, also read a victim impact statement from the witness box, telling the court the day Mabli died was the day her life “irreversibly changed for the worse”.

“She had said ‘Mamma’ for the first time only the day before,” she said.

Ms Hall said the family was “heartbroken”, but that the word “does not do justice to how broken and destroyed we are as a family”.

“Everyone needs to remember that Mabli was eight months old, she was so bright, so beautiful and so full of love and life. She was the apple of all our eye,” Ms Hall added.

“She was my best friend, my shadow, my second skin.”

‘Devastation of their lives’

In mitigation, Mr John Dye said the defendant had “led a blameless, law-abiding life”.

He said she had shown “extremely genuine remorse” and had written a letter to Mabli’s family.

The court heard Curtis had “ongoing mobility issues” and had caring responsibilities for her adult daughter.

Handing down his sentence of four years in prison, Judge Geraint Walters said “loving parents, siblings and a wider extended family suffered the devastation of their lives”.

“That is because that day, they suffered that which each parent dreads, the loss of a much-cherished child, then just eight months old,” he said.

“Her life was taken from her senselessly, and indeed needlessly, as a result of your actions.”

The judge said the case was aggravated by the fact that others were struck by the vehicle, namely Mabli’s father and uncle.

As well as the custodial sentence, Curtis was also disqualified from driving for eight years and would have to undergo a driving test before she could re-apply for a licence.

Addressing the media outside court, Mabli’s grandfather, Paul Sambrook, thanked “everyone who [had] been part of the process to secure justice for Mabli Cariad”.

“We’ve waited over 18 months for this day and finally this nightmarish chapter has come to an end,” he said.

“We’ll go home now and start to live our lives without Mabli. She was the sunshine who lit up our lives in so many ways, but now we have to focus on helping the other children of the family to cope with the loss and find a new way forward.

“If there is anything to learn from the pain and bereavement, this is what it is. Take care every time you sit behind the wheel of your car, think carefully about your own safety as well as the safety of others.”

Iwan Jenkins from CPS Wales told Sky News that nothing could change “the tragic events of that day”.

“Although the criminal case has concluded, our thoughts remain with Mabli’s family over their heart-breaking loss and with everybody who received injuries on that day,” he added.

Environment

Meet Cadillac’s new $80,000 Lyriq-V, the quickest Caddie (EV or gas-powered) so far

Published

59 mins ago

January 23, 2025

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Meet Cadillac's new ,000 Lyriq-V, the quickest Caddie (EV or gas-powered) so far

With 615 horsepower, the Cadillac Lyriq-V is the quickest Caddie to date. Cadillac’s first V-Series EV will outsprint a CT5-V Blackwing, and it can be yours for under $80,000.

The 2026 Lyriq-V EV is the fastest Cadillac ever

We knew it was coming soon. Cadillac teased the Lyriq-V for the first time in late October, giving a sneak peek at its first electric V-Series vehicle.

Cadillac’s performance brand is known for iconic sports cars like the CT5-V Blackwing, but the new EV pushes the “V-Series sub-brand to new heights,” boasted John Roth, vice president of Global Cadillac.

As the first EV to wear the V-Series badge, Cadillac promised the Lyriq-V would be powerful, but we didn’t know it would be this fast.

Cadillac officially introduced the 2026 Lyriq-V on Thursday, revealing additional specs, prices, and more. With an estimated 615 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque and a standard dual motor AWD powertrain, the EV is expected to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds, making it the quickest Cadillac to date.

At that speed, it would outrun the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing with a 0 to 60 mph sprint time in 3.4 seconds. Although the CT-5 packs slightly more horsepower (668 hp), the Lyriq-V’s EV powertrain unlocks more powerful, instant acceleration.

The added power is enabled by an added Velocity Max feature, which “unleashes the vehicle’s full performance capability” with a surge of power and acceleration.

Interior and exterior design, prices, and features

The V-Series model differs from the traditional Lyriq with a lower center of gravity and custom front and rear bumpers. It also features V-Series badging on the rear doors and tailgate, V-pattern mesh on the lower grille, and 22″ wheels with the logo etched into the side.

Inside, the performance EV borrows features from the Lyriq, such as a panoramic fixed glass roof, a 23-speaker AKG sound system, and a massive 33″ LED display screen.

Cadillac distinguishes the V-Series from the traditional Lyriq by adding the V-Series logo, a V-mode button, and a sports rim with hand grips. Other unique features include a custom infotainment experience with a “V-Series persona,” a signature V-Series illuminated sill plate and V-pattern detailing on the seatbacks.

A 102 kWh battery pack is expected to provide a range of up to 285 miles. The 2026 Cadillac Lyriq-V starts at $79,990, including the destination fee.

In comparison, the Tesla Model Y Performance starts at $51,490 and has an EPA-estimated range of up to 277 miles. It also includes AWD and can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.

Cadillac’s new performance EV will be sold in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Other markets will be announced closer to launch. GM will begin producing the new Lyriq-V at its Spring Hill, TN, manufacturing plant in early 2025.

What do you think of the Cadillac’s new performance EV? Would you buy one for $80,000? Or are you sticking with the Model Y Performance? Drop us a comment below to let us know.

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