The archæology and prehistoric annals of Scotland

by Sir Daniel Wilson

Dunnichen Stone

To this same transition-period there can now be little hesitation in assigning that remarkable class of Scottish sculptured stones, decorated most frequently on the one side with the figure of the cross, and on the other with a few mystic symbols of constant recurrence which still remain an enigma to British Antiquaries, and to most others a subject of perfect indifference or contempt; though had they been discovered on the banks of the Tigris or the Nile they would have been thought worthy of the united efforts of European scholars for their solution. Some of these monuments most probably belong to Pagan times, as they contain only the mysterious symbols, unaccompanied by the emblem of the Christian faith, and are usually of ruder execution, and cut on unhewn stones. Of this class are the Standing Stones at Kinellar and Newton, Aberdeenshire;[527] and those of Aberlemno,[528] and Kirktown of Dunnichen, in Angusshire.[529] Theorists who have deemed it indispensable to assign to these singular monuments an antiquity long prior to the Christian era have supposed that the cross has been superadded to the older Pagan sculptures. No traces of any such hybrid union are now discoverable, but, on the contrary, where we find the Christian and Pagan symbols combined, they are almost invariably accompanied with elaborately interlaced patterns and figures of dragons, serpents, and nondescript monsters, bearing a close and unmistakable resemblance to the decorations of some of the most ancient Irish manuscripts, nearly corresponding to the era of the introduction of Christianity into Scotland. Several of the beautiful initials from the Book of Kells, an Irish MS. of the sixth century, as engraved in Mr. Westwood's Palæographia, bear a close resemblance to the style of ornament of these sculptures; while the interlaced knotwork on the case of the shrine of St. Maidoc, which Dr. Petrie conceives cannot be later than the eighth century, though less distinctly characteristic, and by no means peculiar to Ireland, very nearly corresponds in its details to the ornamentation frequently introduced on these Scottish monuments. Others, such as the Aberlemno and one of the Meigle crosses, are decorated with raised pellets or nail-heads, manifestly derived from the ornamental studs of the old British buckler, also to be found elsewhere; as on one of the Manx sanctuary crosses to be seen about a mile from St. Maughold's Church, in the Isle of Man. The arrangements of the figures in some of the Scottish monuments of this period, as in the celebrated Forres column, are also strikingly suggestive of intimate intercourse between Scotland and Ireland at the period of their erection, from their correspondence to such works as the beautiful crosses at Monasterboice. In this case, however, the Irish are evidently the later works, and are, indeed, assigned by Dr. Petrie to the early part of the tenth century.

The locality in which these remarkable monuments are found is also worthy of notice. No example occurs within the ancient limits of Dalriada, or on the western coast in the vicinity of Ireland, nor has any one been discovered south of the Forth, though met with both at Largo and St. Andrews, or north of the ancient southern limits of the Norse kingdom, if we except one now erected in the pleasure-grounds of Dunrobin Castle. Yet it is within the same limited range of country, extending along our eastern coast, that the only examples of primitive ecclesiastical architecture occur undoubtedly pertaining to the Scottish Celtic Church prior to its remodelling in the eleventh century.

No sculptured memorials of the singular class so abundant in Scotland, have been discovered in Ireland, any more than in Norway, Sweden, or Denmark, though so long ascribed to a Scandinavian origin. They are manifestly native monuments, though betraying the same traces of the influence of early Irish art, or at least indications of a period when the peculiar style of their ornamentation was common both to Scotland and Ireland, with which we are familiar in the works of the closing Pagan era. Only one known period of Scottish history answers to these requirements, and seems to point out the ruder class of sculptured standing stones as the monuments of the Pagan Picts, and the more elaborate ones, accompanied with the symbol of the Christian faith, as belonging to that period which has been slightly sketched in a preceding chapter, when Christianity was introduced to the Scottish Picts at the very time in which we possess numerous proofs of the most intimate intercourse between the two countries. What we chiefly want at present for the elucidation of Scottish Archæology is not theories but facts; yet such historical coincidences, though doubtless open to challenge, are not unworthy of note, and cannot justly be ranked along with the vague theoretical speculations, destitute of any foundation but the fancy of their originators, which have discovered in these Scottish sculptures Egyptian, Phœnician, Braminical, or Druidical symbols, as it chanced to suit the favourite theory of the hour.

The Dunnichen Stone affords a good example of the most frequent symbolic figures: the Z shaped symbol, sometimes, as in this case, intersecting two circles decorated within with foliated lines, and united most frequently by two reversed curves, or occasionally intertwined with a serpent. Along with these, there is also often introduced a crescent-shaped device—the favourite emblem of Druidical theorists—intersected by a V figure, more or less floriated, as on St. Orland's Stone at Cossins,[530] the Aberlemno Cross,[531] and many others. Ingenious theorists have recognised in these the initial Z, L, S, of Zodiacus, Sol, and Luna, and the key to a whole system of mystical enigmas! Another figure which occurs on the Dunnichen Stone has been discovered to be the Atf, or high cap of the Egyptian Osiris surmounted by a lotus! The same combination of symbols, however, is engraved on one of the remarkable silver relics found at Norrie's Law, Fifeshire, as shewn here the same size as the original. From this there can be no doubt that it represents an animal's, probably a dog's, head; and this is equally apparent on one of the crosses in the churchyard of Meigle, and also on what is called "King Malcolm's grave-stone" at Glammis, where the same figure accompanies the two-handed mirror. A writer in the Archæological Journal mentions having met with an almost precisely similar ornament to one of these symbols on Gnostic gems and coins bearing cabalistic inscriptions; and "hence he is led to think that the carvings on the reverse sides of these stones may have been intended to refer to the perpetual conflict between the Cross on the one hand, and false doctrines and worldly pursuits on the other. The Gnostic emblem being intended as an indication of the former of these principles, counteracting and opposing the spreading of the doctrines of the Cross, and the scenes of the chase (so frequently accompanying these sculptured emblems) as indicating the latter."[532] Such abstruse and recondite ideas, however, seem altogether irreconcilable with the age to which the monuments must be assigned, while they leave the main point still unsolved, as to how these symbols do indicate false doctrines or a Pagan faith. Two objects of domestic use, the mirror and comb, frequently accompany the more mysterious figures, and after being assumed by earlier antiquaries as the indications of a female monument, have more recently been traced to the supposed emblems of Christian martyrdom found sculptured on the tombs of the Roman catacombs. Dr. Maitland, however, has successfully combated this mode of explaining what were often no more than the implements of a trade or profession. Above the figures of a mirror, comb, and pair of shears, on one of the primitive Roman tombs, are the simple words VENERIÆ IN PACE, To Veneria in peace,[533]—indications apparently solely of the sex, or possibly of the occupation of the deceased. That these symbols were used in Scotland for the same purpose at a much later period, is proved by the sculptures on some medieval tombs, and in particular on that of the prioress Anna at Iona, who, though a religious, looks no martyr on her tomb. It is engraved by Pennant, (vol. ii. Pl. XXIV. fig. 2,) and more minutely, though in a greatly more imperfect state, in Mr. H. D. Graham's admirable illustrations of the Antiquities of Iona, (Pl. XLV.) Two angels arrange the pillow of the good prioress, a lady neither of spare nor youthful figure; while on either side of her are her little lap-dogs, each with a riband and bell to its neck, and over all the mirror and comb: possibly designed on this, as well as on the Roman lady's tomb, to indicate the virginity or celibacy of the dead. Besides these figures of most frequent occurrence, however, others are also occasionally found curiously referrible to an eastern origin, and, in particular, a symbolic elephant, as on Martin's Stone at Ballutheron, on one of the crosses in the churchyard of Meigle,[534] and on the Maiden Stone on Bennochie, Aberdeenshire, where it accompanies the comb and mirror, from which the monument has probably derived its name.[535] The peculiar character of these singular representations of the elephant is well worthy of study from the evidence they afford of the existence of eastern traditions at the period of their execution. It is impossible to mistake the object intended by the design, while at the same time it is obvious that the artist can never have seen an elephant. What should be the feet are curled up into scrolls, and the trunk is occasionally thrown in a straight line over the back, whereas horses and other animals with which he is familiar are executed with great spirit and truth. Fabulous and monstrous figures also accompany these, such as the centaur occasionally bearing the cross in its hands, and what appears in some to be a branch of mistletoe, as on the reverse of another of the singular crosses in the churchyard at Meigle. On a stone near Glammis a man with a crocodile's head is introduced; on one of the Meigle crosses, among sundry other nondescript animals, is the capricornus or sea-goat; and on the inscribed cross of St. Vigeans a grotesque hybrid, half-bird half-beast, stalks among the fantastic animals and intertwining snakes which decorate its border.

A most lively fancy is apparent in many of these designs; but others are possessed of a much higher value as illustrations of the manners, customs, dresses, weapons, musical instruments, &c., in use at the period when these monuments were erected. Thus in the very curious piece of sculpture figured in the annexed engraving, we have a representation of the use of the bow and arrow, and of a car drawn by two horses. It is now preserved at Meigle along with others, the supposed relics of the tomb of the frail Guanora, Arthur's queen, who, according to Hector Boece, was made captive by the Picts, after the defeat and death of Modred on the banks of the Humber, and passed the remainder of her life in captivity within the strong fortress of Dunbarré or Barry Hill. Thus strangely do we find the romantic tales of the old troubadours, once familiar through medieval Europe, located by popular tradition in the district of Strathmore. Mr. Chalmers conceives that scarcely a doubt can be entertained of the reference to the monument at Meigle ascribed to Queen Guanora, and of which the engraving represents one of the most curious portions, in the following note, under the year 1569, in the Extracta e Cronicis Scotiæ:—"At Newtylde[536] thair is ane stane, callit be sum the Thane Stane, iii eln of heicht, v quarteris braid, ane quarter thik and mair, with ane cors at the heid of it, and ane goddes next that in ane cairt, and twa hors drawand hir, and horsmen under that, and fuitmen and dogges, halkis and serpentis: on the west side of it, ane cors curiouslie grauit; bot all is maid of ane auld fassane of schap. It is allegit that the Thane of Glammis set thir tua stanis quhen that cuntrey wes all ane greit forrest." This description is of great value, not only as preserving a tradition associated with the stone at a period very near the time of Boece, yet differing entirely from his romantic tale of Queen Guanora, but much more so, in that it conveys a tolerably definite idea of what the monument actually was in the sixteenth century.

Meigle Stone Car.

The traditions associated with these singular monuments, whether gathered directly from vague local traditions, or culled from the marvellous pages of the monkish chroniclers, are equally contradictory and valueless, as throwing any light on their origin, whether associated with King Arthur and his ravished Queen, or, like the remarkable Forres obelisk, popularly called King Sueno's Stone, believed to commemorate the final defeat and ejection of the Norsemen from the Scottish mainland. This beautiful monument, which measures twenty three feet in height, has been repeatedly engraved;—by Gordon, on a sufficiently large scale, but with little attempt at accuracy of detail, and more carefully by Cordiner in his Scottish Antiquities.