National Committee on Carved Stones in Scotland (NCCSS)
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Membership
    • Documents
  • About Carved Stones
    • Prehistoric
    • Roman
    • Pictish & Early Medieval
    • Later Medieval
    • Gravestones & Memorials
    • Architectural Sculpture
    • Public Monuments
  • Preservation
  • Recording
  • Research
  • Who to Contact
Forteviot, Perth and Kinross. © Mark Hall

Pictish & Early Medieval

Explore

Nearly 2000 sculptured stones survive from early medieval Scotland (AD 500–1100). These range from unworked boulders incised with simple crosses to magnificent free-standing crosses and cross-slabs up to three metres or more in height, such as those from Iona, Ruthwell and Aberlemno. The finest, such as the Nigg cross-slab, rank among Scotland’s greatest artworks.

They are decorated in regional versions of the ‘Insular’ art style common to all the peoples of Britain and Ireland, both Anglo-Saxon and Celtic-speaking. Rich in Christian symbolism, this art combines intricate geometric ornament (interlace knotwork, spirals, key-patterns) with figurative scenes depicting Christian imagery and details of everyday life, including dress, transport and weaponry.

The range of functions of these monuments is wide: some marked significant points in the landscape (boundaries, routeways, ancestral burial grounds), many stood outside churches or monasteries as a powerful testament to Christian belief and patronage. Some, whether upright or recumbent, marked the graves of prominent people; a smaller number are architectural features, the sole remnants of exceptional churches.

Although the great majority of stone monuments were not inscribed, a number bear short inscriptions: in Latin (the language of the Church) or in Gaelic, Pictish, Old English or Norse; using the Roman alphabet, ogham or runes.  Unique to Scotland is an enigmatic system of graphic motifs known as ‘Pictish symbols’ found on over 250 stones, both unworked pillar-stones and elaborate cross-slabs. The set of Pictish symbols comprises about three dozen designs. A small proportion of these are recognisable objects and native creatures but most are abstract geometric motifs, the meaning of which remains a mystery.



Find out more: 

  • J R Allen and J Anderson 1903. Early Christian Monuments of Scotland. Edinburgh (reprinted 1993, Pinkfoot Press, Balgavies).
  • I Fisher 2001 Early Medieval Sculpture in the West Highlands and Islands. Edinburgh: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland/Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
  • I Fraser 2008. The Pictish Symbol Stones of Scotland. Edinburgh: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scotland.
  • G Henderson and I Henderson 2005. The Art of the Picts. London: Thames and Hudson.
Prehistoric
Roman
Pictish & Early Medieval
Later Medieval
Gravestones & Memorials
Architectural Sculpture
Public Monuments
Picture
NCCSS website grant-aided by Historic Environment Scotland

 Follow us on Twitter @NCCSS_Scot