In 2019 a previously unknown Pictish cross slab was found during a survey of Logie Wester burial ground by Anne MacInnes, a member of the North of Scotland Archaeological Society. Two years on, the stone now has pride of place in nearby Dingwall Museum. Anne has teamed up with fellow NOSAS member James McComas to create a short film which tells the story of how the stone was found and of its journey from the burial ground to the Museum. The film features some of the many people involved in the NOSAS managed community project to rescue this important stone and put it on public display.

The Conan Stone was ready for us to pass our slings underneath to carefully lift using our gantry, and moved down the hill, along an uneven approx. 250 metre path with the help of volunteers to our vehicle.

Once in the workshop it was gently surface cleaned and allowed to slowly dry out, as the stone was completely saturated, disaggregating and fragile, allowing it to acclimatise over 4 months, whilst being monitored.

The large amount of roots from bushes became more visible poking out between all the delaminating bedding planes, and we found that there was indeed movement within the large stone due to the visible roots.

The Conan Stone was to be displayed in a vertical position, in Dingwall Museum, and we realised that the appropriate conservation action would be to take the stone apart at these loose bedding planes to remove all the roots.

Following all the necessary conservation works we made a resin shoe to aid the support of the Conan Stone when standing vertically within a mount designed and made by others.

Easter Ross is home to an immensely rich corpus of Pictish Christian sculpture located at sites strung along its eastern seaboard.  At the northern and southern ends of this string, Portmahomack and Rosemarkie respectively are home to substantial assemblages of sculpture.  Between these terminals, impressive individual monuments are to be found at Hilton of Cadbol, Shandwick and Nigg.

The discovery of the Conan Stone in the spring of 2019 added a new Pictish cross slab and a new inland church site to this distribution.

This paper will look at the Pictish Christian sculpture of northern Scotland – Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross – with a view to identifying any close thematic or stylistic parallels with the Conan Stone.

The axe- or weapon-wielding hybrid human figures in Pictish sculpture—such as the Rhynie Man or the centaur on the Maiden Stone—fascinate modern audiences, but their original significance is only now being recognised. Recent research into the representation of mythology in early medieval sculpture and new archaeological discoveries suggest novel ways of interpreting and understanding these figures and their chronology. On Pictish cross-slabs and relief sculpture, such figures are usually not found in isolation, but instead form part of a carefully planned artistic programme, incorporating multiple otherworldly beings. The non-linear placement of this imagery, often around a dominant cross, is similar to the placement of pre-Christian deities and mythological characters in the mixed pagan and Christian iconography of Scandinavian sculpture in Britain and the Isle of Man. Such comparative material suggests that these Pictish figures represent pagan Pictish gods and/or associated supernatural creatures from well-known Pictish mythological narratives, and that the Picts had an artistic culture that looked for parallels between pagan and Christian iconography, and used these parallels in meaningful combinations.

Pictish Symbols stones were first comprehensively documented over a hundred years ago, yet scholars remain divided over which designs are symbolic and which only decorative. This presentation, derived from analysis of the full corpus of potentially symbol-bearing Pictish artefacts, includes the identification of a new Pictish Symbol; the ‘Placard’. It demonstrates that there are three types of Pictish symbols (Pairing, Auxiliary and Lone), each with unique characteristics in form and function. Differences in symbol usage will be explored on all Pictish media including free-standing stone monuments, cross-slabs, pebbles, plaques, jewellery, gaming-pieces, on cave walls and on other living-rock. The Conan Stone will be discussed in this context as a typical example of symbol usage, but with some intriguing differences. The idea of early or proto-symbols will also be introduced.

The St John’s Cross concrete replica has ‘come of age’. It is 50 years since it arrived in Iona sitting incongruously on the deck of a puffer delivering the island’s annual supply of coal.  This talk summarises key findings from My Life as a Replica: St John’s Cross, Iona (Foster with Siân Jones, published 2020). It will reflect on the crafting of the biography at the heart of the book and how allowing the subject to ‘speak’ reveals meanings and values, from the mid-eighth century to the present. It introduces the concept of the ‘composite biography’, the intertwined lives of the 1200-plus-year cross and its copies, not least the 1970 replica. The modern journey begins with the replica.

The barrow cemetery at Tarradale, at the western end of the Black Isle near Muir of Ord, has been identified from aerial photographs as one of the largest monumental cemeteries in northern Pictland. Over 30 barrows have been identified but as part of the site is elevated and eroding and the lower parts are deeply buried under topsoil, it is likely there were considerably more barrows. Excavations by the TARRADALE THROUGH TIME project in 2019 uncovered extensive remains of both square and round barrows with considerable variation in size of individual barrows. Grave cuts were identified in the centre and periphery of barrows and between barrows. Two grave cuts, each probably containing a log coffin, were excavated and one of them preserved the remains of a skeleton which was little more than a stain on the sandy subsoil. A much larger ring ditch feature may be the survivor of an earlier monument on the site that became the focus for the later barrow cemetery. Excavation of a double-ditched square barrow revealed it to be the largest known feature of this kind in a Pictish cemetery in Scotland suggesting that a stratified and elite society is commemorated at Tarradale.

This talk will take a tour through the Pictish period of the Highlands. This will include an analysis of the rich carved stone corpus, the location of likely early church sites and will give an update on the Northern Picts project work at Wag of Forse, Caithness – a site that may have been occupied in the Picitsh period and giving a rare glimpse of a Pictish period settlement.

Anne MacInnes has been a member of NOSAS since 2008 and interested in archaeology for as long as she can remember. Since she retired as a paramedic, she has had the time to resurrect some survey training from a past life, and combined with training from the Scotland’s Rural Past Team and more experienced members of NOSAS, this is where her main interest lies. Most of her work was done in the Gairloch area, but since moving to the east coast she has spent a lot of time recording graveyards. In Logie Wester she found more than she was expecting!

James McComas is originally from Leeds and moved to the Highlands in 2007. A former primary teacher, James has been running his own internet based business for a number of years and has most recently begun to practice as a qualified counsellor. He first volunteered on an archaeological dig in 2012 and was instantly hooked. He is the current Vice Chair of the North of Scotland Archaeological Society and has particular involvement with Tarradale Through Time and the Rosemarkie Caves Project. In the last few years he has developed an amateur interest in filming and editing archaeological videos

Graciela Ainsworth is the lead Conservator and Director of Graciela Ainsworth Sculpture Conservation Ltd. She holds a BA Hons in Fine Art/Sculpture from Northumbria University in addition to a Sculpture Conservation Diploma from the City and Guilds of London Art School. She founded her eponymous company in Edinburgh in 1990. She has been an ICON accredited Conservator since 2000, a Member of the Master Carvers Association since 2019, a Trustee of the June Baker Trust and the Scottish Lime Centre Trust, and she was made a Fellow of the Institute of Conservation in 2020.

John Borland worked as an archaeological and architectural surveyor for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and then Historic Environment Scotland for thirty-six years. He retired as Measured Survey Manager in 2020.

During his working lifetime, he recorded almost every period and type of archaeological and architectural monument, from Neolithic chambered cairns to entire prehistoric landscapes to military structures of WWII. However, he has always had a particular interest in recording carved stones, especially those of the Early Medieval period.

John has been President of the Pictish Arts Society for the past nine years.

Dr Kelly Kilpatrick is an Affiliate Lecturer in the Department of Classics at the University of Glasgow and a Research Fellow with the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on Iron Age and medieval sculpture, epigraphy, and the study of pre-modern place-names and landscapes, with a particular focus on early Scotland. In 2011 she was nominated to a Fellowship with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for comparative research on hybrid figures in Pictish art, and this paper expands on her earlier work. You can read this and her other publications on her academia.edu profile.

Hugh Levey was awarded a Master of Letters Scottish History (distinction) by the University of Glasgow in 2019. His dissertation on Pictish Symbol usage, supervised by Katherine Forsyth, identified a new Pictish symbol and the principle ‘rules’ of symbol usage across different media. He plans to revise the text for academic journal submission. Prior to his Masters, Hugh worked in Information Technology where his data handling and analytical skills were honed. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Manchester University and, pre-lockdown, remained an active classical and jazz musician. He is a member of the Pictish Arts Society.

Dr Sally Foster is Senior Lecturer in Heritage and Conservation at the University of Stirling. She is the author of Picts, Gaels and Scots (3rd edition published in 2014). Co-produced research and books include Able Minds and Practised Hands: Scotland’s Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century; A Fragmented Masterpiece: Recovering the Biography of the Hilton of Cadboll Cross-Slab and, most recently, My Life as a Replica: St John’s Cross, Iona.  The findings of the Iona research, with Professor Sian Jones, have led to the co-production of New Futures for Replicas: Principles and Guidance for Museums and Heritage.

Dr Eric Grant studied geography and archaeology at the University of Aberdeen followed by a PhD  at the University of Birmingham. For twenty years, he lectured in archaeology and historical geography at university level. He later undertook consultancy work and was the chair of SUAT, while maintaining an interest in the voluntary sector as a past chair of the trustees of Dollar Museum and Groam House Museum. He ‘retired’ to Tarradale House in Ross-shire, and within the auspices of NOSAS set up the Tarradale Through Time community archaeological project, which has been investigating the multi-layered archaeological landscapes in the Tarradale area with spectacular results.

Professor Gordon Noble has undertaken landscape research and directed field projects across Scotland. He has worked on a wide range of landscapes and archaeology projects from the Mesolithic to Medieval periods. He was director and co-founder of Strathearn & Royal Forteviot (SERF), a successful archaeological project researching a site that became one of Scotland’s early royal centres. He now works on two major projects. The first, Northern Picts, is funded by the University of Aberdeen Development Trust and Historic Environment Scotland and is focused on the post-Roman societies of northern Britain. The second, Comparative Kingship, funded by the Leverhulme Trust, is examining the early royal landscapes of Ireland and Scotland.

Dr Colleen Batey is a recent past president of the Scottish Society for Northern Studies, and retired from the University of Glasgow in 2019. She is well known in the field of the archaeology of the Highlands and Islands, with specific focus on the Viking and Late Norse periods. Her excavations at Freswick Links in Caithness remain the largest environmental archaeological investigation in Scotland. With excavations carried out from Iceland to Cornwall over a forty-year field career, Colleen now resides in Orkney, from where she continues to undertake online lectures and supervisions. She holds honorary positions at both UHI and the University of Durham, as well as Hunter College New York.

John Borland worked as an archaeological and architectural surveyor for the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland and then Historic Environment Scotland for thirty-six years. He retired as Measured Survey Manager in 2020.

During his working lifetime, he recorded almost every period and type of archaeological and architectural monument, from Neolithic chambered cairns to entire prehistoric landscapes to military structures of WWII. However, he has always had a particular interest in recording carved stones, especially those of the Early Medieval period.

John has been President of the Pictish Arts Society for the past nine years.

Roland Spencer-Jones was able to spend more time on his lifetime interest in archaeology once he was retired from his previous work as GP and medical educationalist. Chair of NOSAS for 4+ years, his particular interests are maps, landscape archaeology, and the pre-historic use of the land. He has led NOSAS projects to survey the multi-period deserted settlement Lands of Urchany west of Beauly, undertake a walkover survey of a local community forest, digitise and upload the previously arcane maps of the Lovat Estate, and to upload to Canmore the extensive aerial photographic archive of a recently deceased pilot and NOSAS member.

Dr Christian Cooijmans is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Liverpool. His first monograph, Monarchs and Hydrarchs, has recently been published with Routledge. He is currently the Digital Content Officer for SSNS.

Dr Ian Giles received his PhD in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Edinburgh and is a full-time professional literary translator of Swedish. He is currently the Treasurer of SSNS.

The Scottish Society for Northern Studies (SSNS) is a charity founded in 1968 which encourages the exploration of the interactions and influences of the Scandinavian, Celtic, and Scottish worlds – both within Scotland and further afield.

https://www.ssns.org.uk/

The North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NoSAS) was founded in 1998. Its main objectives are to further the study of archaeology in the North of Scotland and to promote that interest to a wider audience.

https://www.nosas.co.uk/

The Pictish Arts Society was founded in 1988. It is the purpose of the PAS to raise public awareness of the Pictish stones, history and culture and to encourage various arts inspired by Pictish design. Membership is open to one and all from across the globe for anyone who has an interest in the Pictish stones and arts.

http://www.thepictishartssociety.org.uk/