There is now serious dispute as to whether the Dalriadans came from Ireland at all. Extensive archaeological work has thus far failed to prove that there was a large scale migration from Ireland to western Scotland at the turn of the 6th century AD. Many scholars believe that the Dalriadans were indeed the indigenous people of western Scotland, and may have been the descendants of the Epidii tribe.
From then on the Dalriadans focused on their lands in what is now Scotland. Their rivals were the Picts to the north and the Angles of Bernicia to the east. On the south they were bordered by Strathclyde, a Brythonic kingdom. Dunadd, in Argyll, was probably the seat of the kings of Dalriada. It has been excavated and in addition to fortifications many moulds for the manufacture of Jewellery were found. A Census of Dalriada exists, the Senchus fer n'Alba.
Dalriada was divided into three kindreds with a fourth being added later:
Dalriada was conquered by the Picts but eventually overwhelmed them culturally. Kenneth MacAlpin, a Dalriadan, was the first King of the united Picts and Scots, reigning from 840 to 857 as the king of Alba or Scotland. The Viking raids of the 10th century broke the sea communication between Ireland and Scotland and contact was lost with the western lands of Dál Riata, but not before the Stone of Scone was brought over.
A grammar school in Ballymoney Northern Ireland is named after the Kingdom.