#pictish stones

[thesilicontribesman]

Pictish Stag Symbol Stone, circa 9th Century CE, St. Vigeans Stones and Museum, Arbroath, Scotland

Considered by many to be one of the finest Pictish animal depictions.

[billherbert23]

A long while since I got to St Vigeans, but here are a couple of snaps of the stanes in the excellent wee museio including saints breaking moon-like breid, assorted craiturs and profiles in hoodies, and a triquetra amid the z-rods and ither symbols.

[grandboute]

[summercamp2007]

blood monolith

[thesorceresstemple]

Pictish Symbol Stone, Aberlemno, Angus, Scotland

[azvolrien]

I then headed further up Speyside to Inveravon Kirk, which for a change I did not need to find anyone to let me into, partly because they'd left it unlocked anyway and partly because the stones are kept in an open porch to one side. The collection consists of three large stones and a small block. From left to right the big ones show:

A Crescent-and-V-Rod above a Beast

A richly carved mirror case above an eagle, with a small mirror and comb beside the eagle

Another Crescent-and-V-Rod, a bigger mirror and comb, and a symbol usually called a 'Triple disc and bar', theorised to represent a cauldron seen from above.

The little block has obviously been cut down for reuse at some point, but still clearly shows the head of a Beast.

OK, I think that's enough for today. I'll do some more tomorrow.

[04032021]

[smellofwater]

Ballymeanoch & Dunadd

[uniofaberdeen]

Study reveals new insights into the origins of Scotland's mysterious Picts

Scotland's Picts have long been viewed as a mysterious people with their enigmatic symbols and inscriptions, accentuated by representations of them as wild barbarians with exotic origins.

But a newly published study by an international team led by researchers at the University of Aberdeen and Liverpool John Moores University is helping to shed new light on the origins of the Picts.

The Picts were first mentioned in the late 3rd century CE as resisting the Romans and went on to form a powerful kingdom that ruled over a large part of northern Britain, in present-day north-east Scotland.

In the medieval period, the Picts were considered immigrants from Thrace (north of the Aegean Sea), Scythia (eastern Europe), or isles north of Britain but as they left few written sources of their own little is known of their origins or relations with other cultural groups living in Britain.

Archaeologists have conducted the first extensive analysis of Pictish genomes and their results have been published today (27/04/2023) in the open access journal PLOS Genetics.

The results reveal a long-standing genetic continuity in some regions of the British Isles, helping to build a picture of where the Picts came from and providing new understanding of how present-day genetic diversity formed. The findings also confirm descriptions by the great English historian Bede of the far-flung eastern origins of the Picts as one of myth and fantasy.

The researchers used Identity-By-Descent (IBD) methods to compare two high-quality Pictish genomes sequenced from individuals excavated from Pictish-era cemeteries at Lundin Links in Fife (Southern Pictland) and Balintore in Easter Ross (Northern Pictland) to those of previously published ancient genomes as well as the modern population.

Dr Linus Girdland Flink of the University of Aberdeen, senior corresponding author of the study, said: “Among the peoples present during the first millennium CE in Britain, the Picts are one of the most enigmatic.

“Their unique cultural features such as Pictish symbols and the scarcity of contemporary literary and archaeological sources resulted in many diverse hypotheses about their origin, lifestyle and culture, part of the so-called ‘Pictish problem’.

“We aimed to determine the genetic relationships between the Picts and neighbouring modern-day and ancient populations.

“Using DNA analysis, we have been able to fill a gap in an understudied area of Scotland’s past.

“Our results show that individuals from western Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Northumbria display a higher degree of Identity-By-Descent (IBD) sharing with the Pictish genomes, meaning they are genetically most similar among modern populations.”

This genetic make-up was distinct from areas of southern England where there is a greater relative degree of Anglo-Saxon heritage.

Dr Adeline Morez from Liverpool John Moores University, lead corresponding author of the study, adds: “Our findings also support the idea of regional continuity between the Late Iron Age and early medieval periods and indicates that the Picts were local to the British Isles in their origin, as their gene pool is drawn from the older Iron Age, and not from large-scale migration, from exotic locations far to the east.

“However, by comparing the samples between southern and northern Pictland we can also see that they were not one homogenous group and that there are some distinct differences, which point to patterns of migration and life-time mobility that require further study.”

The analysis of mitochondrial genomes from Lundin Links has also provided an insight into another Pictish myth – that they practised a form of matriliny, with succession and perhaps inheritance going to the sister’s son rather than directly through the male line.

“In a matrilocal system we would expect to find females staying in their birthplace after their marriage and throughout their life.

“At Lundin Links, diversity in the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA suggests this was not the case. This finding challenges the older hypotheses that Pictish succession was passed along the mother’s side and raise further questions about our understanding of Pictish society and its organisation.”

[genderdryad]

sie/magi/ru/arc galdurian malificae stone femme lesbian flag!!

pls credit me if you use- thnx!

[charliescreatures]

Sea horse hug- loosely based on a sea horse carving from the Aberlemno stones. This carving may be depicting Pictish beasts or be more related to silkie mythology.

[thesilicontribesman]

The Pictish Wolf Stone, Stittenham, Ardross, Inverness Museum and Gallery, Scotland

[archaeolorhi]

A Hidden Gem in The Last Kingdom...

THIS IS VERY NICHE I KNOW but did you know the Hilton of Cadboll Stone was snuck into The Last Kingdom?

The Stone was carved in c.800 CE and portrays an aristocratic FEMALE horse rider with her hunting party (lets go girlies!)

But in The Last Kingdom, the stone has been transformed into a throne fit for a king! King Constantin II of Scotland to be precise x

Find out all about it in this weeks video!

Let me know, how do you feel about archaeology being used in this way? Do you think its harmless and potentially encouraging? Or do you think it's inaccuracies may do more harm than good?

And don't forget to like and subscribe! <3

[froody]

look at this Pictish stone

The snakes biting each other. The beast eating a man. The creatures fighting over prey. The huntsman. The cow. I wonder what story it was telling.

[scotianostra]

St Madoe's Stone , Perth Museum.

The most complete of all the pictish/Celtic stoones I saw on display on Monday, this was found lying down in St Madoes Churchyard, Perthshire during 1830's. . In the 1920s it was moved, in its base, to stand against the wall beside the church door. In the 1990s it was taken to Perth Museum & Art Gallery.

One side, as seen in my gif, is dominated by the ring-headed cross that fills what we can accept as the front of the slab. It is surrounded by biting dogs and with two lion-like creatures facing each other across the top of the stone.

The other side of the slab shows three cloaked and hooded riders, probably churchmen (possibly a reference to the road and its users between St Andrews and Scone) and below them three Pictish symbols: a crescent and v-rod, a double-disc and z-rod and a Pictish beast. The symbols are much worn due to exposure to the elements when it stood in thechurchyard.

In the first thousand years AD, the country we now call Scotland was dominated by changing groups of Celtic peoples, most notably the Picts. From AD 250-900, they controlled most of Scotland north of the River Forth. We do not know what they called themselves. The Picts – meaning “the painted ones” – is the name the Romans gave them. Their language has disappeared and no Pictish manuscripts are known to have survived. But their art does survive on over 300 pieces of carved stonework and a much smaller number of portable objects such as jewellery.

There at least 17 sites around the Perth area, they include Stone Circles, a Pictish Free-Standing Cross, Pictish Symbol Stones and stones with cup marks, cup and ring marks are by far the most common motif, if you remember, or have ever inspected the Caiy Stone, at Oxgangs, which I visited and posted pics of last year, there are 6 of thes type of marks on this stone.

Perth Museum has several fragments of smaller stones which I shall post at a later time.

[azvolrien]

Onwards to Rhynie. This village might ring a bell with you if you're up on your geology, because it's the find-spot of a deposit known as the Rhynie chert, famous for its extraordinarily preserved fossils of Devonian plants (and so, some of the earliest land plants in the fossil record).

This has nothing to do with the Rhynie chert, however. The first three stones here are displayed in a little shelter in the car park for the village cemetery. The first and smallest slab is carved with a Beast, though I appreciate this isn't especially clear, while the other two show a Crescent-and-V-Rod and a mirror, and a Double-Disc-and-Z-Rod, another mirror, and some kind of... depressed hand puppet creature?

Then in a field just south of the village stands the Craw Stane, still pretty much in situ but with the addition of a concrete base. I have not the faintest idea why they call it the Craw Stane, as the symbols carved on it are a fish (probably a salmon) above a Beast (a bit licheny, but still much clearer than the one in the car park), rather than anything resembling a crow.