Isle Of May Was A Pictish Healing Center – Monks Used Herbs To Treat Sick And Dying People

AncientPages.com - Beautiful Isle of May is today inhabited by sea birds and seals and the remote island is owned and managed by Scottish Natural Heritage as a National Nature Reserve.

In ancient times, Isle of May was visited by Vikings, monks, Picts and smugglers. Archaeologists have discovered traces of medicinal plants and new evidence has emerged that indicate Isle of May was a Pictish healing center. Seeking wisdom from the monks who called it home and also the hope of divine intervention - either in this life or the next, sick people visited Isle of May regularly.

Image credit: Peter Yeoman/Fife Council Archaeology Service Bones - Marlo Willows/British Archaeology

Archaeological investigations on the island near the ruined monastery have unearthed dozens of graves ranging from the year 500 A.D. to around 1500 A.D.

Marlo Willows, a University of Edinburgh PhD student has examined the remains the graveyard gave up and discovered that most people buried on the island suffered from serious and life-ending diseases.

Puffins on the Isle of May. Credit: Walter Baxter

“These were very, very sick people - so were they going out there to be healed? In the case of the teenager with syphilis, his bones were honeycombed with the disease and he would have been in an awful amount of pain. He would not have been able to walk, but the fact he lived so long shows he was cared for by other people and may have been brought to the island in a last-gasp attempt at a cure when all else had failed,” Peter Yeoman, former county archaeologist for Fife said.

The ruins of the monastery lie near the harbor. Credit: Peter Yeoman/Fife Council Archaeology Service
Bones - Marlo Willows/British Archaeology

For more than 1,000 years, the Isle of May, which lies on the edge of the Firth of Forth, is believed to have been home to a monastery traditionally associated with an early Christian evangelist named Ethernan. Is thought to have died and been buried there while ministering to the Picts who once called Fife their home.
Monks on the island treated sick and dying people with herbs.

See also:

Airmid: Irish Goddess Of Healing And Herbs And One Of The Tuatha Dé Danann

Mysterious And Frightening Sculptor’s Cave Of The Picts Reconstructed In 3D Model

Picts: Facts And History About Mysterious People Of Northern Scotland

“The monastery would have been a place of learning and the monks would likely have been literate, so it's possible they were using that knowledge to treat the sick,” Yeoman explained.
It's very possible sick people found comfort in being on sacred ground. Ancient people believed that being so close to the grave of a saint such as Ethernan would help their souls reach their way to heaven.

According to Yeoman, “this is the best evidence of disease and health care ever found from early medieval Britain”.

AncientPages.com