the "Novant" occupying Galloway and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright to accompany his discussion of the Gododdin. Barry Cunliffe, an archaeologist, (Iron Age Communities in Britain, 1971) mentions the Novantae in passing, saying their homeland was Galloway and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and with a map showing it, which he attributes to "various sources". David Mattingly (An Imperial Possession: Britain in the Roman Empire, 2006) mentions them as a people of southwestern Scotland according to Ptolemy, with maps showing them as occupying both Galloway and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. Sheppard Frere (Britannia: A History of Roman Britain, 1987) mentions the Novantae several times in passing, associating them firmly with the Selgovae and sometimes with the Brigantes. He places them in both Galloway and the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, with the Selgovae on the other side of the Southern Uplands in southeastern Scotland. The Novantae are inconsequential to the larger history of Scotland in Before Scotland: The Story of Scotland Before History (2005) by Alistair Moffat, but he weaves a number of colourful though questionable details about them into his story. He says that their name means 'The Vigorous People', that they had kings and often acted in concert with the Selgovae and Brigantes, all of whom may have joined the Picts in raids on Roman Britain. He provides no authority for any of these assertions. See also Ptolemy's Geography Britannia (Roman province) Scotland during the Roman Empire Citations References Tribes of ancient Scotland Celtic Britons Scotland in the Roman era 2nd century in Scotland Historical Celtic peoples Tribes mentioned by Ptolemy