On my uncle's bookshelf was a book about the Picts, and in the first chapter were multiple photos of carved stones I had seen in the Scottish National Museum of History in Edinburgh, which I mentioned in a previous post. I borrowed the book for my flight back to Scotland because I find the pre-Scotland history fascinating. Besides, the book was short and to the point.
When the Romans arrived to Britain, there were a couple groups of tribes/clans in what they called 'Caledonia.' In the west were the 'Scots,' who had strong connections to Ireland, both in terms of culture and ancestry. From modern day Edinburgh and Fife (where St Andrews is) up into the eastern and northern highlands were the 'Picts.' The name comes from the Latin word 'picti' which meant 'painted' because the Picts tattooed themselves liberally. They spoke a now extinct language, and historians still have trouble understanding their sparse writings and numerous carvings. They were famous for their stone carvings, and the Scottish landscape is littered with the stones they erected. These stones may have served as political statements, boundary markers, or religious ceremonies. Frankly, we don't know the stones' purpose. Quite often farmers still discover old stones as they plow their fields. Gradually, many of the pagan symbols disappeared from the stone carvings as the Picts made a strong statement that their territory belonged to Christians and not to pagan Vikings. As the Vikings made more and more raids in the 800s AD, the Picts became weaker. Meanwhile, the Scots to the west put more pressure on the Picts, so the Scots gradually became more influential in 'Alba' in terms of both culture and politics. Within a couple generations the Picts were gone, and the Scots became dominant in Scotland.
Before the Picts converted to Christianity, they carved several images into their stones that we now no longer understand. For instance, the 'Z Rod' and 'V Rod' is on numerous objects. These symbols could have religious or nationalistic meanings, but that's just pure speculation. While in Edinburgh, I wanted to go back to the museum and see these carvings because I had already seen the stones in my last trip but did not understand the stones' significance. Here are some photos of these stones and other objects with the 'Z Rod' symbol:
The top part of this stone has the 'Z Rod.'
The 'V Rod' is on the beneath.
Another example of the Z Rod.
There are multiple symbols on this stone
that we don't understand, including the
V Rod in the center. In the corner is a group
of circles that have no known meaning.
Many stones do have mirrors and combs
carved into the bottom, which indicates that
a woman, probably a wife, commissioned the
carving of the stone.
The Z Rod is in the bottom right-hand corner.
This is the back of the stone pictured in the
photo above. The cross was carved into the
stone long after it had originally been carved.
In the entrance to the ancient history section
of the museum is a huge Pictish carving (I have a photo
of this stone in another post that I have already
linked onto this post), but on the back of this
stone is another carving. Someone had turned
this stone into a burial marker, and guests
can see these carvings if they walk around
to the back to see it.
In the front is a bone with a V Rod carved into it.
In the back is a disc with the Z Rod carving.
Small pieces of silver with the Z Rod carved into it.
We have no idea what the purpose of
these pieces of silver were.
The Whitecleuch Chain with a Z Rod carved
into the link. Much of the silver carvings probably
came from silver the Picts acquired from raids
against the Romans in the south and then boiled it down
and made their own silver works. This chain dates
from around 400 to 800 AD.
When literacy returned to Scotland in the 5th
and 6th centuries AD, one form of writing
was the Ogham alphabet, which was used to
imitate the sounds of the Old Irish and Brythonic
languages (which the Picts may have spoken).
This stone shows an example of Ogham letters
on a carved cross slab. Often, the translation
of these letters only produces gibberish
that means nothing to anyone.
The cross slab with the Ogham writing
I have pictured above.
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