Scotland in the Early Middle Ages paganism. Roman mentions of the worship of the Goddess Minerva at wells and a Pictish stone associated with a well near Dunvegan Castle on Skye have been taken to support this case. The roots of Christianity in Scotland can probably be found among the soldiers and ordinary Roman citizens in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall. The archaeology of the Roman period indicates that the northern parts of the Roman province of Britannia were among the most Christianised in the island. Chi-Rho inscriptions and Christian grave-slabs have been found on the wall from the 4th century, and from the same period
Scotland during the Roman Empire as unified ideas until centuries later. In fact, the Roman Empire influenced every part of Scotland during the period: by the time of the Roman withdrawal from Britain around 410, the various Iron Age tribes native to the area had united as, or fallen under the control of, the Picts, while the southern half of the country was overrun by tribes of Romanized Britons. The Scoti (Gaelic Irish raiders) who would give Scotland its English name, had begun to settle along the west coast. All three groups may have been involved in the Great Conspiracy that overran Roman Britain in