Latest Pictish Stone Found in Scotland

A gravedigger in Conningsburgh, Scotland, last week unearthed an 18 x 11-inch sandstone slab believed to date from about 700 A.D. and revealing mysterious Pictish symbols.

The Picts lived in northern and central Scotland in the early Middle Ages. Last week’s find was the ninth such stone to be discovered in the Cunningsburgh area in 130 years. The graveyard itself has yielded four of the Pictish stones bearing the ancient alphabet known as ogham.

This latest stone bears a design called “double-disk and Z-rod,” one of the most common Pictish motifs. “We don’t know what the ancient symbols mean, and I think that’s absolutely fascinating,” Dr. Ian Trait, collections curator at the Shetland Museum and Archives, told the Shetland Times. Click here for the complete article.

(Photo courtesy of the Shetland Times)