Iron Age
From around 700 BC extending into Roman times the Iron age brought an age of forts and defended farmsteads, which supports the image of quarrelsome tribes and petty kingdoms recorded by the Romans. Evidence that at times occupants neglected the defences might suggest that symbolic power was as significant as warfare.
Brythonic (or "Pritennic") Celtic culture and language spread into southern Scotland at some time after the 8th century BC, possibly through cultural contact rather than mass invasion, and systems of kingdoms developed.
Larger fortified settlements expanded, such as the Votadini stronghold of Traprain Law, East Lothian, which was the size of a town. Huge numbers of small duns, hill forts and ring forts were built on any suitable crag or hillock. The spectacular brochs were built, most impressively the near complete broch at Mousa on Shetland. Many Souterrain underground passageways were constructed, though their purpose is obscure. Island settlements linked with a causeway to land, the crannogs, became common; it is thought that their function was defensive.
Read more about this topic: Prehistoric Scotland
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