The people of the Kingdom of Dál Riata spoke a Q-Celtic Goidelic language. They lived in Argyll on the West Coast of what is now Scotland from around AD 400.
The Gaels of Dál Riata are often called ‘the Scots’ as the Romans named the Q-Celtic speaking peoples of Ireland and Argyll ‘the Scotti’ which probably meant ‘pirates’. The Scotti attacked Roman shipping off the west coast.
Only twelve miles of sea separates the Mull of Kintyre from Antrim. The Gaels of Dál Riata and Antrim traded across the sea routes, intermarried and sometimes fought.
The founding myth of Scotland tells of an Irish King, Fergus Mor, settling Scots from Ireland in Argyll. The English historian Bede wrote that the Irish Scots under Reuda took lands from the Picts. These origin tales influenced later historians but there is no evidence on the ground for an Irish invasion of Argyll.
The Gaels of Dál Riata and Ireland lived in different types of house; they wore different styles of brooch and dress pin; they carved different stone monuments. The archaeological evidence does not support the origin tales. It is now thought that the Gaels of Argyll, the Dál Riatans, were a native population who shared a common language with the peoples of Ireland a few miles over the sea. The Gaels of Dál Riata were probably the descendants of the Bronze Age cairn builders of Kilmartin Glen.
The Dál Riata strongholds at Dunadd, Dunaverty, Dunollie and Tarbert were important places of power and defence. A ‘dun’ was a hill fort. Kings were inaugurated at sacred places like Dunadd, an impressive fortress of the 7th and 8th centuries. A footprint carved into the rock at Dunadd is thought to have been used during the King-making ceremonies.
Finds at Dunadd, such as imported glass and pottery, show that European trade flourished along the western seaboard. The Christian monks of Iona needed a source of vellum (calf hides) to make their books. The Book of Kells alone is made of hundreds of calf skins.
Most Dál Riatan kings came from two leading groups; the Cenél Loairn and the Cenél nGabráin. The King Áedán mac Gabráin, who ruled Dál Riata c AD 574–608, would have been well known to Columba and the monks on Iona. In AD 719 the two opposing groups of Dál Riatans fought a sea battle. There may have been up to a hundred wooden boats and curraghs (skin boats) on each side, filled with warriors armed with bows and arrows. The Dál Riatans may have fought off Viking raiders from AD 794.
The Dál Riatans were the ancestors of some of Scotland’s kings. Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, better known as Macbeth, King of the Alba, was descended from the Cenél Loairn of Dál Riata.
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