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Ian M. Morton |
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The Picts of early medieval Scotland remain
among the darkest of the Dark Age peoples. Very little is known about their
society or culture. Even the language they spoke is unknown. They left no
written records. Other than a handful of archaeological sites that have not
yet been fully explored, all that remains in the landscape is a collection of
over 200 standing stones. The stones are identified as Pictish because they
bear carved symbols from a set of around 30 designs. The designs include
geometric patterns and figures of birds and animals. The symbol stones therefore represent a large proportion of the tangible remains of the Picts.
Accordingly, it is important to gain what we can through study of the stones. In the 1980s, research
into the relationship between the position of the stones and the landscape in
which they sit was undertaken in Aberdeenshire (Inglis, 1987). The study, carried out with
map and pencil, attempted to characterise the attributes of the location of
each stone. A later study identified a relationship between the position of Pictish stones and
parish boundaries (Fraser and Halliday, 2010).
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In his study Inglis quantified attributes of the location of the stones. As part of a wider field study of the area
Fraser and Halliday observed that stones were often found near to parish boundaries and reflected on the fact that these 'modern' parishes match
the extents of much earlier territories. This study uses GIS and a combination of descriptive and inferential statistics to examine these findings.
The set of Pictish stones was extracted from Canmore (Historic Environment Scotland, 2017). Ordnance Survey digital map datasets were used to model the landscape.
Chi-square and Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness-of-fit tests are used to assess whether the patterns of distribution of the stones by elevation,
aspect, proximity to water and proximity to parish boundary were likely to have happened by chance. Two study areas are identified and named
according to the Pictish tribes who occupied the region. Fortriu, in Aberdeenshire, encompasses the areas investigated in the earlier studies.
Caledone / Maetae incorporates the area now bounded by Angus, Perth & Kinross and Fife. |
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The results of the earlier research into the Fortriu study area are
found to stand up to this scrutiny by technology. In part they hold true for the Caledone / Maetae area.
The distribution of values for aspect, elevation and proximity to water for the stones in Fortriu are seen to be
significantly different than would be expected to occur by chance. The stones are found at lower levels of altitude, close to water and with the eastern to southern aspect quartile strongly
favoured. In the Caledone / Maetae study area, the distribution of stones by elevation is found to be significant, although this is not the case for aspect or proximity to water.
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The observation by Fraser and Halliday that the stones
in Aberdeenshire are positioned near parish boundaries is confirmed by GIS analysis. This is also found to be the case for the Caledone / Maetae study area.
Since parishes are known to reflect
older land divisions, this provides evidence that supports a suggestion that the stones served as
territorial markers.
Key References
Fraser, I. & Halliday, S. 2010. The early medieval landscape of Donside, Aberdeenshire. In: Driscoll, S. T., Geddes, J. & Hall, M. A. (eds.) Pictish progress: New studies on northern Britain in the Early Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, pp.307-334.
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