The Nigg Stone is an incomplete Class II Pictish cross-slab, perhaps dating to the end of the 8th century. The stone was originally located at the gateway to the grounds of the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of Nigg,

Easter Ross Easter Ross () is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland. The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituency and a Scotti ...

, Scotland. It is one of the finest surviving Pictish carved stones, and one of the most elaborate carved stones surviving from early medieval Europe. It is now displayed, restored to its original proportions, in a room inside the parish church (open in summer; key kept locally). It bears an elaborately decorated

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

in high relief on the 'front' and a figural scene on the reverse. This scene is extremely complicated and made more difficult to interpret by deliberate defacement. Among the depictions are two Pictish symbols: an

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

above a

Pictish Beast The Pictish Beast (sometimes Pictish Dragon or Pictish Elephant) is a conventional representation of an animal, distinct to the early medieval culture of the Picts of Scotland. The great majority of surviving examples are on Pictish stones. T ...

, a sheep, the oldest evidence of a European triangular

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

, and hunting scenes. Scholars interpret the scene as representing a story of the biblical

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

. The carvings on the cross side show close similarities to the contemporary high crosses of

Iona Iona (; , sometimes simply ''Ì'') is an island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there are other buildings on the island. Iona Abbey was a centre of Gaeli ...

. These works may indeed have been made by the same 'school' of carvers, working for different patrons. The stone was shattered in the 18th century. The upper and lower parts were crudely joined together using metal staples (now removed), and the shattered intervening part was discarded. Part of the missing fragment was recovered in 1998 by Niall M Robertson, in the stream which runs below the mound on which the churchyard is set, having probably been thrown down the bank at the time the slab was 'repaired'. This small fragment shows most of the 'Pictish beast' symbol, and was preserved in

Tain Tain ( ) is a royal burgh and parish in the County of Ross, in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. Etymology The name derives from the nearby River Tain, the name of which comes from an Indo-European root meaning 'flow'. The Gaelic n ...

Museum, until being reattached during a restoration in 2013. It is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

Notes

References

* Fraser, Iain, Ritchie, J.N.G., ''et al.'', ''Pictish Symbol Stones: An Illustrated Gazetteer'', (Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, 1999) * Jones, Duncan, ''A Wee Guide to The Picts'', (

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; ; ) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It had a population of as of . History The name Musselburgh is Old English language, Old English in ...

, 2003) * MacNamara, Ellen, ''The Pictish Stones of

'', (

, 2003) * Scott, Douglas, ''The Stones of the Pictish Peninsulas'', ( Hilton Trust, 2004)

External links

Am BaileStrathclyde University
STAMS Pictish Stone Search Facility.

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