ARCHAEOLOGISTS are excited after a rare Pictish symbol stone was uncovered in Aberdeen following the sustained spell of warm and dry weather.
Teams from Historic Environment Scotland (HES), Aberdeenshire Council and the city’s university confirmed it is a Class I Pictish symbol stone – an unworked stone with carved symbols including a triple disc with cross bar, mirror, and a notched rectangle with two internal spirals.
Low water levels enabled it to be recovered from the banks of the River Don in Dyce after it had become partially exposed.
READ MORE: Uncovering the mysteries of Scotland’s Picts
Kirsty Owen, HES deputy head of archaeology, said: “We’re very excited by this find, made all the more remarkable by the brief window of opportunity we had to recover the stone before the water levels rose again.
“AOC Archaeology, our emergency call off contractors, worked with a specialist lifting company to carefully and safely remove the stone from the river.”
Pictish symbol stones are among Scotland’s most distinctive monuments and their elegant and vivid symbols can be found carved into boulders and slabs of rock, and on specially cut and shaped free-standing stones.
Class I Pictish stones date from the 6th to 8th centuries AD, and are typically unworked with carved symbols, thought to represent the names of individuals or groups.
This discovery is one of a number of impressive finds in the north-east of Scotland, including an early Pictish stone now on display at St Fergus Church, Dyce, close to where the new find was unearthed.
Bruce Mann, local authority archaeologist for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, said: “The exceptional summer has led to river levels being at their lowest for decades, so there was always a chance that something new would be found. However, I certainly didn’t expect a find as stunning as this.
“Pictish symbol stones are incredibly rare, and this one, with its apparent connection to the river, adds further to the discussions around their meaning and what they were used for.”
READ MORE: Letters: Much of Scots history remains a mystery
The Picts are one of Europe’s “lost people”, chiefly known for their elaborately decorated memorial stones found throughout eastern Scotland.
Gordon Noble, head of archaeology at the University of Aberdeen, who is leading a research project into the early medieval kingdoms of northern Scotland and Ireland, added: “Although there is a corpus of more than 200 of these stones across Scotland, each one is unique and this is a fantastic example which enables us to fill some of the gaps in the record and helps us to trace the development of literacy in north-east Scotland. As such, it is a very significant find.”
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