Revisiting the Norse on the Western Isles from a Landscape Perspective

Abstract

Historically the research on the relationship between the Norse and Pictish period population
of the Western Isles has largely focused on place-name evidence, due to the prevalence
of Old Norse place names over Pictish period ones and a scant archaeological record. Placename
scholars, as well as archaeologists have traditionally split into two schools of interpretation:
a ‘war school’ and a ‘peace school’. The war school argues that the archaeological
and place-name material contains proof of a Norse genocide against the Pictish period
inhabitants, while the peace school has advocated assimilation or acculturation. In the last
few decades excavations and surveys have given a better understanding of the Norse presence
on the islands. This article approaches the question of whether the Pictish period population
survived, through an archaeological landscape analysis that incorporates settlement
sites and uses place-name data. It argues that the landscape displays proof of a surviving
Pictish period culture within a dominant Norse society, though this survival was probably
asymmetrical and regional.