 | The Making of Scotland: Surviving in Symbols by Martin Carver
Buy used from: £4.45 A good basic introduction to what we know - or think we know. Carver emphasises the extent to which experts disagree on many areas.
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 | The Iron Age in Northern Britain: Celts and Romans, Natives and Invaders by D.W. Harding
Buy new: £25.67 / Used from: £21.50 Not light reading, but admirably clear. Harding distills the knowledge accumulated during a long career in British archeology.
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 | Scotland: Archaeology and Early History: A General Introduction by Graham Ritchie
Buy new: £21.81 / Used from: £9.00 Good background.
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 | The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland by George Henderson
Buy new: £26.45 / Used from: £32.99 A good collection of black and white photos of Pictish symbol stones and Pictish metalwork.
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 | The Pictish Conquest: The Battle of Dunnichen 685 and the Birth of Scotland by Brother James E. Fraser
Buy new: £8.09 / Used from: £11.42 Good general background (applies to previous edition).
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 | Pictish Warrior AD 297-841 by Paul Wagner
Buy new: £7.38 / Used from: £7.87 Interesting reconstructive drawing.
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 | Forteviot: A Pictish and Scottish Royal Centre by Nick Aitchison
Buy new: £16.99 / Used from: £9.50 Suffers from the fact that most of the Forteviot site was washed away by a flood about 100 years ago. Consequently, a great deal of what it contains is inference and hypothesis.
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 | Life of St.Columba (Penguin Classics) by Adomnan of Iona
Buy new: £8.36 / Used from: £4.60 St. Columba actually visited the Picts, possibly more than once. Surprisingly easy reading.
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 | Ecclesiastical History of the English People: With Bede's Letter to Egbert and Cuthbert's Letter on the Death of Bede (Classics) by Bede
Buy new: £6.96 / Used from: £2.84 Bede is another early source.
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 | Kings and Warriors, Craftsmen and Priests in Northern Britain AD 550-850 (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Monograph) by Leslie Alcock
Buy new: £25.00 / Used from: £24.50 An excellent look at early Scotland in general.
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 | Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland, A.D.80-1000 (New History of Scotland) by Alfred P. Smyth
Buy new: £13.64 / Used from: £7.50 Good general background history
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 | Pagan Celtic Britain: Studies in Iconography and Tradition by Anne Ross
Buy used from: £12.10 Pre-Christian religious background.
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 | The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy by Ronald Hutton
Buy new: £18.19 / Used from: £23.08 More pre-Christian religious background.
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 | Portmahomack: Monastery of the Picts by Martin Carver
Buy new: £17.94 / Used from: £16.70 Not published yet, but it looks interesting.
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 | The Farfarers: Before the Norse by Farley Mowat
Buy used from: £4.55 A different perspective entirely!
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 | The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff
Buy used from: £2.16 A fictional look at the North during the early Roman period.
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 | The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff
Buy used from: £3.22 Another fictional look at the North. The perspective favors the Gaels over the Picts, but it's a great story.
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 | Storyteller by G. R. Grove
Buy new: £11.66 / Used from: £12.51 The obligatory commercial - no Picts in this book, but see the sequel (due out in October 2007) for my guesses.
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