which spans the era roughly from the 6th to the 9th century. The analysis includes small ring forts (duns), reoccupied hill forts (Craig Phadrig, Clatchard Craig), promontory forts close to the sea (Burghead), citadel forts and nuclear fortifications.
Strictly speaking, the discussion touches upon not only Pictish strongholds but on those of their neighbours: to the west the Dal Riatan Scots (originally from Ireland), with their centre at Dunadd; to the southwest the Britons (read Celts) of Strathclyde (Alt Clut : Dumbarton); to the southeast the Britons of Goddodin (Dun Eidin : Edinburgh) whose territory fell to the invading Germanic Angles from Northumbria around 638 CE.

"The Early Historic strongholds...were nothing compared to the Roman legionary camps...or even to the great Celtic hill forts [of the Iron Age]...However, for the most part they were compact...and they made the best possible use of natural defensive qualities of the terrain" (p. 41).

As is characteristic of the Osprey booklets, the present volume is lavishly illustrated with full colour artwork, photographs and maps. At times, however, the written material tends to be exceedingly repetitious as, for instance, on page 21 where the same information given in the main text appears in the smaller typeset description of Portknockie. The same happens in regard to Dunadd (pp. 36-41).
Aside from a mention of Viking raids starting at the very end of the 8th century, we are left pretty much in the dark as to the fate of the enigmatic Picts.

My title essentially sums up the book--the emphasis is more on certain fortresses such as promontory forts and hill forts as opposed to looking at the situation from a variety of angles (military, political, cultural, technological, etc).

Konstam does an admirable job of packing in a lot of information, and Peter Dennis' illustrations are great, but I still felt a gnawing sense that the book didn't live up to what it's blurb said it would. I was expecting an analysis of Pictish, Saxon, and Gaelic forms of warfare, but no cigar.

The focus for nearly all the pages is on the various forts and an example from different regions in Northern Britain.

To be fair, this is all the archaeological evidence really supplies at the moment, but I still heard a little voice in my head that cried out: "More!"

If you are interested in forts and fortifications, this is an excellent complement to Konstam's British Forts in the Age of Arthur.

However, if you are more interested in tactics, weaponry, and clothing, this book, while its illustrations allude to such cultural elements, do not go in depth at all. No explanation is offered of the illustrations except their fortifications, and strictly that.

So, the book achieves what it set it out to do--provided you didn't read the "It will also discuss the mystery surrounding the Picts, and show how modern archaeology has done much to reveal the way these enigmatic people waged war, and defended their strongholds," blurb.

Because the simple truth is that it doesn't discuss how they waged war in any serious detail, and I felt most let down by that. That said, this is still a great book, and useful to those wondering about the fortifications in Dark Age north Britain.

On a side note, I would really like to see some follow up Men-at-Arms titles discussing the various warriors of Britain in-depth (I know about Osprey's Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Wars, but it's a bit dated).