Pictish Symbol Stones

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A fascinating new study into the Picts, one of Europe’s most enigmatic peoples.

The Picts, the most powerful group in northern Britain for some 500 years, mysteriously disappeared from contemporary records in the 9th century. All that remains of their language are fragments in the names of places and people, along with symbols carved on monuments and cave walls. This book explains these symbols.

The symbol stones of the Picts remain one of Scotland's greatest archaeological enigmas. First appearing on record in the third century AD, the kingdoms of the Picts stretched from Shetland to the Forth. In the eighth century the Picts were absorbed into the kingdom of Alba, the core of what was to become the medieval kingdom of Scotland.The Picts are best known today for the wealth of highly accomplished stone sculpture that they left behind. Among these are many that bear a distinctive group of symbols, some apparently abstract and decorated with the geometrical motifs of Celtic art, others beautifully naturalistic. There have been many attempts to decipher the significance of the symbols, but their meaning remains obscure.Brought up to date with recent discoveries and a new introduction, The Pictish Symbol Stones of Scotland draws together all the known symbol-bearing stones and artefacts, providing succinct descriptions and suggestions for further reading. Fully illustrated, with modern and antiquarian photographs as well as detailed scale drawings, Pictish Symbol Stones provides the definitive resource for anyone, academic or amateur, with an interest in Pictish sculpture.

Some years ago a revolution took place in Early Medieval history in Scotland. The Pictish heartland of Fortriu, previously thought to be centred on Perthshire and the Tay found itself relocated through the forensic work of Alex Woolf to the shores of the Moray Firth. The implications for our understanding of this period and for the formation of Scotland are unprecedented and still being worked through. This is the first account of this northern heartland of Pictavia for a more general audience to take in the full implications of this and of the substantial recent archaeological work that has been undertaken in recent years. Part of the The Northern Picts project at Aberdeen University, this book represents an exciting cross disciplinary approach to the study of this still too little understood yet formative period in Scotland's history.