Take a trip up to North-East Scotland, passing through the beautiful Borders and journeying into the Highlands, you may find you come across some beautifully carved Pictish stones and find yourself wondering what they are.
Pictish Stones are the last remaining evidence of the ancient picts; a group of Celtic-speaking people, or ancient Scots. The stones date back to the 6th Century, around the time the Picts discovered Christianity, and feature beautiful carvings; detailing a glimpse of what life was like for these ancient peoples. Without these stones, we would know very little about the Picts indeed!
There is a marked difference between the eldest stones, predating Christianity, and stones which have clearly come to pass once the Picts were Christianised.
The stones are known to archaologists as Class I, Class II and Class III:
What did the pictish stones represent for early Scots?
On the earliest stones, the symbols were geometric and represented animals such as stags, wolves, eagles and even mythical beasts.
Other symbols represented everyday items, such as mirrors and combs, and were used to depict class status in Pictish society.
Unfortunately this is about as much as what is understood from these ancient stones. Class I stones that predate Christianity invite much speculation. It is said some stones may have been associated with burials, and others to have tribal or lineage associations.
Where would I be able to see some of these stones?
Many of the pictish stones have been taken to museums for preservation, however few do still remain in the landscapes on which they were first erected.
