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  The Picts

The enigma of the symbol stones

Broch of Birsay Symbol Stone
The Symbol Stone on the Brough of Birsay.

If there is one item that has come to typify the Picts in Scotland, it must surely be the numerous ornately carved symbol stones they left behind.

No-one really knows, with any degree of certainty, why these enigmatic stones were erected or the significance of the symbols carved on them. But, as with all things Pictish, there are theories aplenty.

Some scholars exclaim they were territorial markers, others that the stones commemorated great people or events.

It has also been suggested that symbols may denote the rank of an individual within the community, perhaps recorded marriage treaties, or were a means of representing personal Pictish names.

The significance of the symbols

Pictish symbols usually occur in pairs and around 50 are known.

Burrian Stone (Picture Sigurd Towrie)
The symbol stone from the Knowe o' Burrian in Harray, now on display at the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall.

These include animals, such as the salmon, deer and bull, birds such as the eagle and goose, “monsters” such as the infamous Pictish Beast and more enigmatic designs such as the crescent and V rod, comb and mirror and double disk.

These symbols, it has been suggested, predate the symbol stones and were perhaps based on the tattoos the Pictish tribes used to decorate their bodies.

From body adornments, which may have had symbolic or magical properties, the symbols may have been transferred onto objects such as jewellery, shields and doorposts before finally ending up on the symbol stones.

Pictish symbol stones are generally found in the north-east of Scotland, with clusters found along the eastern coasts and into the Highlands.

A handful of symbol stones, mostly fragments, have been found in Orkney, the most spectacular and well-known being the stone found at the Brough o' Birsay. But compared to the numbers found in the heart of Pictland, actual symbol stones in Orkney are comparatively rare – only 11 examples of Pictish symbols have been found so far.

Historians and archaeologists have classified the symbol stones into two distinct groups, depending on the form of the stone and the symbols found thereon.

Class I The Class I stones are believed to be the earliest, having symbols carved into larger boulders or stone slabs. These are thought to have been carved in the sixth/seventh centuries AD, but continued to be created well into the period of the Class II stones.
Class II The Class II stones feature symbols carved in relief on rectangular, shaped slabs. These stones often feature Christian elements or scenes alongside the Pictish symbols and are found around the Moray Firth and Tayside in Scotland. Class II stones are thought to date from the eighth and ninth centuries AD – a time when the Picts were converting to Christianity.

Orkney's symbol stones

As mentioned above, 12 examples of Pictish symbols have been recorded in Orkney.

These are:

Brough of Birsay Symbol stone fragments excavated in 1935. Replica now stands on site. The original fragments in the National Museum, Edinburgh. Crescent and V-Rod
Mirror Case
Pictish Beast
Eagle
Triple Warriors
Redland, Firth Fragment discovered in 1860s - built into the wall of a cottage. Now in the National Museum, Edinburgh. Decorated rectangular symbol (shield?)
Crescent and V-Rod
Pool, Sanday An undressed stone slab marked with a rough double disc symbol. Currently in Orkney Museum. Double disc
Circular motif
  Decorated bone pin Double disc
Z-rod
Orphir Recorded in 1939 - two decorate stones. Probably still built into the walls of the Earl's Bu. Crescent and V-rod (both stones)
Rectangular symbol.
Oxtro Broch Stone slab covering a burial cist. Current location unknown. Eagle
Knowe of Burrian, Harray Rectangular flagstone found in 1936. Thought to have been part of the broch. Current in Orkney Museum. Eagle
Crescent and V-rod
Mirror
Greens Found at the farm of Greens in 1926. Now in National Museum, Edinburgh.  
Broch of Gurness, Evie Stone found in 1935, on a wall between broch outbuildings. Now in Gurness visitor centre. Rectangular symbols
Mirror case.
St Peter's Kirk, South Ronaldsay This stone, decorated on two sides, formed the kirk's window sill until the 1850s. Now in National Museum, Edinburgh. Crescent and V-rod and Mirror case
Crescent and V-rod and rectangular symbol.
Tankerness Found in 1986. Now in Orkney museum. Seahorse.
Sands of Evie, Evie Fragment found in 1967. Now in Orkney Museum. Mirror
Sanday First Class II stone found in Orkney. Uncovered in 2011, during renovations to a house on the island. Christian cross and a Pictish “sea creature” symbol.

The Language of the Picts
Section Contents
The Pictish Nation
Orkney's Picts
Pictish Symbol Stones
The Pictish Language
Pict and Viking -
The Fate of Orkney's Picts

See Also
The lost Sandwick King Stone
The The Brough of Birsay
At Burrian, in Harray, an incised cross was found along with an impressive eagle, similar to the one carved on the standing stone at The Brough of Birsay, a crescent and V rod and mirror symbols. The cross, like many other remnants of Orkney's past now resides in Edinburgh but the eagle can be viewed at the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall.
The earliest dateable symbol stone in Scotland was unearthed at Pool in Sanday. This stone fragment was found to be decorated with a rough double-disk symbol and dates from the middle of the sixth century AD.
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