The Scots were wearing tartans even in Roman times

Proof that tartans are not a modern myth, BBC News at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-20579219 … comes from a statue of the emperor Caracalla discovered in the Moroccan city of Volubilia. Caracalla, the son of Severus, took part in a 3rd century campaign in Scotland, and was proud of this achievement – which is why he has a depiction of a Caledonian prisoner of war wearing checked leggings and unruly long hair. Large numbers of captives were taken in the campaign and found their way into Roman slave markets. This happened every time Rome defeated tribes, an otherwise brutal side effect of the empire  and its imposition of so called civilisation. One wonders to what extent the genes of Europeans were mixed up in the Roman period, quite apart from the movement of people around the Empire – if only army recruits and merchants that settled down in their adopted countries.