DARK MIST RISING: AVALON UNVEILED

  By Henrik Sendelbach, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=256522 Although I’m sure the Pictish sculptors had no intention of spending valuable time and energy carving sluggish, sickly animals into their masterpieces, the horses they did carve were clearly of the best quality. Vital, and evincing high energy and spirits, they prance across the stones, tossing their long manes in the stiff Scottish breeze. To affect this great health and energy, the Picts must have set aside a crop of grain intended solely for their animals. Oats are the preferred horse feed nowadays, but they were introduced late to Scotland. How late? And were they introduced in time to be utilized by our Pictish friends? Here, I again refer to Irene Hughson, who tells us that both wild and cultivated oats would have been well-established by the Pictish heyday.             But what about grass? Everybody knows that horses like eating grass, right? Well, apparently, what everybody doesn’t kno

  The Torrs Horns and Torrs Pony-cap, found in a peat bog near Castle Douglas in Galloway, Scotland, as displayed in 2011, by Johnbod - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15618477 In addition to the procurement of specific breeds, Irene Hughson believes that the Picts effected and maintained a calculated and skilled horse-breeding and selection program. She says,   It is absurd to imagine a Celtic warlord commissioning beautiful, expensive horse gear, like, for example, the Torrs pony-cap, on the off chance of lassoing a passing Shetland pony and pressing it into service… A reliable working animal is the product of sensible breeding, careful feeding, sensitive handling and sympathetic training. The training must include exercise to build up the physique that makes a horse physically capable of carrying weight and must establish a horse/human relationship that makes the horse willing to pull or carry.                          I would add to this asse

Hilton of Cadboll Stone: The landward-facing, secular side of the cross-slab on location in Easter Ross. This is the replica by Barry Grove. The original uploader was  the  Deacon of Pndapetzim   at   English Wikipedia . Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1834024 Breeds :              So, onward, to the Pictish horse breeds. But first, let’s get the questions out of the way. §    Question : Isn’t surveying ancient stone carvings of horses a chancy method of sizing up horse breeds? §    Answer : Maybe. §    Question : Can we even tell what breed of horse the Picts preferred just by looking at the carvings? §    Answer : Yes, we can. §    Question : Weren’t ancient carvings just “facsimiles” of life? And aren’t they too eroded to make out much detail? §    Answer : A resounding “no”! §    Question : Didn’t the Picts just ride short, hairy beasts akin to the carnival ponies ridden by modern children? §    Answer : Appar

The Pictish stone in the churchyard at Aberlemno Parish Church (sometimes known as Aberlemno II). The battle scene depicted is generally accepted to be that of the Battle of Nechtansmere. So, exactly what, if any, evidence do we have that the Picts used cavalry in warfare? Unlike the Scythian  kurgans , the bulk of Pictish equestrian evidence has not been extracted from grave remains or goods. Irene Hughson’s splendid article,  Pictish Horse Carvings , tells us that there is “not a great mass of either skeletal material or horse gear” in Pictish burial remains. So, where do we go for Pictish cavalry evidence? A little of it comes from literature. The testimony of ancient poets like that of Aneirin, who wrote  Y Gododdin , which describes “swift, long-maned stallions under the thigh of a fine lad”, tells us that his Brythonic and possibly also Pictish readers prized beautiful, fleet horses and used them as cavalry. But the snapshot provided by  Y Gododdin  is, at best, a “fleeting” glim

  Painter of Munich: By ArchaiOptix - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93548087 So, have any horse remains actually been found in the Scythian  kurgans ? The short answer is “Yes”. The longer answer is “Wow!” Not only have large burials yielded piles of horse bones; but a circle of twenty-two horse skulls wreathed the perimeter of one kurgan. Of course, that find was small pickings compared to what awaited archaeologists at the famous Pazyryk I site. At Pazyryk I, archaeologists discovered a burial of ten golden horses. (Not horses made of gold; palominos). This shade was highly prized in antiquity; maybe it was rarer then. Their modern descendants are famous in equine circles as the “Turkmen horse”. (I’ve never heard of it before, but then I don’t run with the “horsey set”). Other types found in the grave sprang from the crossbreeding of a small, hardy, local variety with a Central Asian breed. Although all the manes and eyebrows were carefully t