The Picts and sculptured stones The Picts were the people who lived north of the rivers Forth and Clyde from the late 3rd century until the mid 9th century AD. There is very little archaeological evidence for the Picts and much of what we do know about them has come from the study of their art. This is mostly on sculptured stones, but is also found on cave walls and some metalwork. The dating of the stones has been much debated but and overlapping chronology of the three groups is generally agreed. The stones have been grouped by archaeologists into 3 main types: Class 1 These are rough boulders which have inscised abstract or animal symbols . These date from the 6th and 7th centuries AD and are associated to a pre Christian phase. Class 2 These are shaped stones with symbols carved in relief and usually include a Christian cross on one side. Usually a hunting or battle scene appears on the reverse side. These date from the 7th to the early 9th century AD and are associated to early Christianity. Class 3 These are usually free standing crosses without symbols but they have elaborate decorative carving. These date from the mid 9th century and later and are associated to the period after AD843 when the Picts were united with the Scots. The symbols which appear on the class 1 and class 2 groups include familiar figures such as the serpent or fish and also imaginary animals such as the Pictish beast. There are also abstract symbols such as the mirror and comb, the double disc and the Z rod. We do not know the meaning of the Pictish symbols. The most likely purpose of the stones is that they were grave markers, also few have been found on top of graves or perhaps boundary markers. The Battle and hunting scenes on some Class 2 stones may commemorate particular events in Pictish history. Written Inscriptions

Some of the stones bear written inscriptions in a number of languages including Latin and Gaelic and in Pictish which no one can understand today. The different alphabets used included Latin, Runic (Viking) and Ogham. In Ogham the letters are formed by a series of stroked set against or across a line. When the Pictish Ogham inscriptions are transcribed into our alphabet they form a jumble of letters which does not make any sense.

Class I symbol stone Aberlemno Angus NO 522 559 This stands adjacent to the public road 245m North of Aberlemno Church. On one face there are a serpent, a double disc with Z-rod, a mirror and a comb; near the bottom on the back there are six cup-marks.

Pictish Stone Rosemarkie Found in Rosemarkie churchyard while grave digging. It depiects a profile of a bearded man surrounded by four beasts which may represent Daniel in the Den of the Lions

Pictish Cross Slab Aberlemno Angus NO 522 555 An upright cross-slab of Old Red Sandstone, 7ft 6ins high by 4ft 2ins wide at the bottom and tapering to 2ft 11 1/2ins wide at the top, by 8ins thick. The ornament is partly incised and partly relief, consisting of a cross edged by spirals, and on the reverse the two-legged rectangle, the Z-rod, the triple disc, and a battle scene consisting of three rows of figures.

The cross slab in situ

Cast of reverse - National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh

Class II symbol stone - Brodie Castle, Moray NH 984 576 Pictish Cross-Slab: Ogam-Inscribed A Class II upright cross-slab of grey sandstone - this was found in 1781 during excavations for foundations for Dyke Church which was constructed behind its pre-Reformation predecessor. The stone was erected in Dyke village in commemoration of Rodney'ss victory over the Count de Grasse (Battle of the Saints - 1782) from which it received the name''Rodney''s Cross.'' It was removed to the Park of Brodie a few years before 1842. The stone now erected on a modern base and held upright by wrought iron struts, is rectangular in shape, 6''4" high by 3''5" wide at the bottom and 3''2" wide at the top. It is sculptured in relief, with Ogham inscriptions down each of the four angles. The front bears a cross with interlacing, and the back bears symbols including fish monsters, the elephant, double disc and z-rod

Class I symbol stone Bullion near Dundee This sculptured stone slab was found at Bullion near Dundee while making the new by-pass road. It is 6'2" long, 2'5" broad and 5 3/4" thick, and is of red sandstone. On one face is the figure of a bearded man on horseback, carrying a sword and circular shield, and drinking out of an ox horn.

Class 1 symbol stone Burrian Details from the Class 1 symbol stone from the Knowe of Burrian in Harray, now on display at the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall. This stone, datable to the 6th - 7th centuries, was discovered in 1936 during a partial excavation in a ruined passageway of what is probably a Broch. It is a rectangular flagstone and shows the incised symbols of an eagle, crescent and V-Rod and a mirror

Class II stone Hilton of Cadboll Class II symbol stone. The cross on face has been destroyed. On the reverse are a mounted female figure accompanied by other mounted figures,musicians and animals in a detailed hunting scene. A mirror and comb lie to the left and are surmounted by a crescent and V-rod :a double-disc and Z-rod are seen in a frame above.

Class I symbol stone Grantown Class I symbol stone bearing a stag above a rectangle The symbol stone found in digging the knoll called Cnoc-an-Fruich, a place near Grantown. It is a slab of mica schist of rectangular shape 4ft by 10 inches by 9 inches thick, incised on one face.

Pictish Cross Monifieth Pictish Cross Shaft, the main face including Christ (broken) , saints and David playing a harp

Class I symbol stone Strathmartine Castle Discovered in a dyke on the farm of Strathmartine Castle - red sandstone, it is 1.35m in height and bears an incised crescent and V-rod and an elephant symbol

Class I symbol stone Strathmiglo Fife On west face are the disc and notched rectangle above a deer's head. The symbol stone is situated outside the churchyard wall at Strathmiglo, Fife

Class I symbol stone Tankerness Orkney This fragment was dug up in a garden at Tankerness about 1986. Made of yellow sandstone it bears the figure of a hippocamp or seahorse. Now in Tankerness House Museum, Kirkwall, Orkney.

Class II symbol stone, Woodwray Castle The cross face has panels of interlace and fantastic figures and on the reverse is a mounted figure to the left of a double-disc above a step symbol. It meaures 5'9" high by 3'4" at base tapering to 2'9" at the top by 5" thick. (This slab is so like those from Aberlemno (NO 522 555) only 1/2 mile away, that it must have come from there.) It had apparently been used as a slab for the kitchen floor.

St Ninians Isle Hoard, Shetland St Ninian's Isle became famous in 1958, when a schoolboy helping at an archaeological dig on the island's tiny Celtic chapel discovered a hoard of silver bowls and ornaments. The treasure is believed to date from around 800AD.

Silver Plaques from Norries Law Two finds from the Norries Law hoard - these silver plaques have incised decoration which is picked out in red enamel

The Monymusk Reliquary. This small 8th century house shaped shrine is Irish in form but the ornament incised on its plates is characteristically Pictish

Woollen hood , Orkney This was found in a bog at St Andrews Parish , Orkney in 1867 and has been carbon dated to between 250 and 615 AD. This is made of undyed fabric which was woven on an upright loom and fringed with tablet woven bands and long tassels,some of which appear to be recycled from other garments