Description

The monument comprises two Bronze-Age standing stones situated on the exposed brow of a hill, to the SSW of Ardlair.

The individual stones are aligned N-S, with their long sides facing each other. The stones align with a recumbent stone circle 220 m to the WNW. Pictish people reused the northern stone in the early medieval period (probably the 6th or 7th centuries AD), when they incised three symbol designs on it: the so-called elephant lies above a mirror, with a tuning fork to the right-hand side.

The area to be scheduled is lozenge-shaped on plan, to include the stones and an area around them in which evidence related to their construction and use may survive, as marked in red on the attached map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics: The stones have the potential to enhance the study of Bronze-Age communities and their ritual practices in Britain. Their proximity to the nearby Ardlair recumbent stone circle indicates that they are part of a wider ceremonial complex, either 'outliers', or the remains of a second stone circle, or part of a stone row that might even pre-date the stone circle.

The symbol-incised stone bears well-preserved carvings that have the potential to enhance the study of Pictish symbol stones, the development of Insular art in Britain and Ireland and technical aspects of carving stones in the early medieval period.

Very few symbol-incised stones still stand where they were first erected (for instance, this applies to only 4/43 examples in this area). As here, surviving examples show a preference for location on low knolls that form relatively prominent local features, and there is a recurring association with water.

Contextual characteristics: The standing stones at Ardlair are part of a distribution of standing stones extending over much of Britain. Because we find these monuments over much of Britain, it indicates that elements of the ritual practices of Bronze-Age communities were also widespread.

The Picts used their unique symbols in a range of contexts, but we find the majority of surviving examples carved on stones, the earliest examples being on unshaped stones like that at Ardlair (around 200 examples survive). The meaning of the symbols is much debated, but they may represent personal names. The Ardlair symbol-incised stone provides evidence for the cultural links that existed between different parts of the British Isles in the early medieval period. While the symbol designs are unique to the Picts, their content provides evidence for how the art of the Picts relates to the Insular art style of this period, and the relationship to art in different media, such as metalwork. This provides important evidence for the relationship between the Picts and their early medieval neighbours.

National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of the past, in particular of the ritual life of Bronze-Age communities in Aberdeenshire and their cultural links with other areas of the British Isles. It can also tell us about the nature of Pictish life in Aberdeenshire and their cultural links with other areas of Scotland and the British Isles. It is a rare instance of a symbol-incised stone still situated in its original location. This helps us to understand the relationship of such monuments to Pictish perceptions of the landscape, as well as to earlier prehistoric monuments.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

The monument is recorded by RCAHMS as NJ52NE 3.

References:

Allen J R and Anderson J 1903, THE EARLY CHRISTIAN MONUMENTS OF SCOTLAND: A CLASSIFIED ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF THE MONUMENTS WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR SYMBOLISM AND ORNAMENTATION, Edinburgh: Pt. 3, 505.

Coles F R 1902a, 'REPORT ON STONE CIRCLES IN ABERDEENSHIRE (INVERURIE, EASTERN PARISHES AND INSCH DISTRICTS) WITH MEASURED PLANS AND DRAWINGS OBTAINED UNDER THE GUNNING FELLOWSHIP', Proc Soc Antiq Scot 36, 556.

Jackson A 1984, THE SYMBOL STONES OF SCOTLAND: A SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF THE PICTS, Kirkwall.

Mack A 1997, FIELD GUIDE TO THE PICTISH SYMBOL STONES, BALGAVIES, ANGUS, Pinkfoot Press, 71.

Maclagan C 1875, THE HILL FORTS, STONE CIRCLES AND OTHER STRUCTURAL REMAINS OF ANCIENT SCOTLAND, Edinburgh, 74.

RCAHMS 1994, PICTISH SYMBOL STONES: A HANDLIST 1994, Edinburgh: RCAHMS 8.

Ritchie J N G 1985, PICTISH SYMBOL STONES: A HANDLIST 1985, Edinburgh, RCAHMS 6.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland