Everybody has heard of Viking rune stones, but what about the Pictish stones of Scotland?

Perhaps the Vikings even got the idea of carving memorial stones from the wild Picts?

Below is the Aberlemno Pictish stone, displaying a collection of basic Pictish symbols, including the double disc and Z rod, the meaning of which has now been long lost.  This stone is relatively crude, giving the impression of little planning, as if the carver just started in and cut the symbols at random.

However, there is on the other side of the spectrum the Hilton of Cadboll stone, shown here, whose artistry rivals pretty much anything north of the old Roman empire. Again we see the double disk, and a version of the Z rod on the top.  These were symbols of great meaning to the ancient Picts, and it is quite unfortunate that their meaning will likely never be revealed, having died out with the Picts themselves.

The Pictish beast was also a favorite symbol of these people, also called the Pictish elephant or dragon.  It is really unknown what creature it is supposed to represent, but it certainly has it's analog in many Norse carvings in Scandinavia.

Here is the beast in the Strathmartine Castle stone.

These images tell us that the ancient Picts were a dynamic and energetic society, whose depiction by the invading Romans as blue tatooed wild barbarians was both simplistic and unfortunately very negative, although from the Roman perspective perhaps appropriate as political propaganda. It is so unfortunate that we will never know much more about the Picts than we do now, as the few carved stones they did leave us suggest a culture of great interest.