The lost wandering tribes of Scotland...

It's not about language, but I just read a fascinating new book by Farley Mowat called "The Farfarers". It's a speculative reconstruction of a forgotten people he believes were the first European expatriates to settle in North America. He calls them Albans, and based on some archaeological evidence, claims they settled in Great Britain long before Christ, but being a pastoral people and not having warlike nature or advanced weaponry/armor, were gradually squeezed northward by, in sequence, the Celts (no romanticism here), the Romans, the Picts, and practically everybody else. For several centuries they occupied the Orkneys & Shetland, where they hunted the then thriving walrus, which was a highly valuable resource. As the herds diminished, they started making seasonal hunting trips to Iceland and Greenland. When the Viking raids started in the mid-millenium era, many surviving Albans decided to make permanent homes in Iceland and Greenland--there were no Vikings there (yet), and the commute to work was greatly reduced! Conventional Scandinavian history, of course, says that these islands were originally settled by Vikings, who then made bold voyages of discovery to Labrador and Newfoundland (and there is positive proof of their presence there--that Columbus guy of course didn't discover North America, he never even saw it.) Mowat, who wrote a book, "Westviking" 30 years ago, about the Viking voyages, now maintains that the Vikings made their way across the Atlantic doing what they did best--raiding and pillaging existing settlements, and taking over areas they found desirable.

The North American evidence consists of forty-odd peculiar stone foundations, in the Eastern Arctic (Baffin Island and extreme northern Quebec & Labrador) which resemble longhouse walls--but have no trace of roofing, and are found in treeless areas where no timber was available. He calls them "boat-roofed foundations" and believes that the Albans made winter accommodations for themselves by overturning their large walrus-skin vessels on them--and boat-roofed houses are an ancient tradition in Shetland & Orkney. There are also dry-laid stone cairns which appear to be marker beacons, all over the Arctic, Labrador and Newfoundland.

Finally (hoo boy) he points to the existence of a people known as Jakatars, who still inhabit some parts of Newfoundland which have these stone cairns. Mowat suggests implicitly that these people are the direct descendants of the Albans--and have continuously inhabited Labrador and Newfoundland since before 1000 AD!

Of course, this is all speculative, but Mowat spins it into a highly plausible yarn. Reminding us once again that so many peoples have inhabited the different parts of Scotland that there just ain't no such thing as a an exclusive claim on "true" Scottishness.

Incidentally, Frank, I always thought the Dal Riadans were a mythical Irish kingdom--I'm interested in hearing more about their presence in Scotland.

Bill "2nd-gen Scot" Cameron