MHG7488 - Cup Marked Pictish Symbol Stone - Ardjachie Stone
Summary
No summary available.
Type and Period (2)
- CUP MARKED STONE (Neolithic to Late Bronze Age - 4000 BC? to 551 BC?)
- INSCRIBED STONE (Pictish - 300 AD to 900 AD)
Protected Status
- None recorded
Full Description
NH78SW 17 746 845.
Cup-marked Stone, Ardjachie: This boulder (1.7m by 0.65m by 0.35m), which was uncovered by the plough about 1960, is now in Tain Museum. One face bears about thirty irregular cup-shaped depressions and a symbol resembling a spoked wheel.
E Macnamara 1971; RCAHMS 1979.
NH 746 845, NH 744 848 and NH78SW 26 A programme of archaeological work was carried out, 7–10 September 2013, as part of the Northern Picts: Archaeology of Fortriu project. A geophysical survey was conducted, which aimed to contextualise the landscape location of the Pictish symbol stone (NH78SW 17), which was found at Ardjachie during ploughing in the 1960s. A total of 28 20 x 20m grids were surveyed using gradiometry and 9 grids using resitivity. The geophysical surveys showed few features with the exception of one round, c10m diameter, anomaly identified in the resistivity survey. A test pit suggested this was simply a variation in the subsoil.
Gordon Noble and Oskar G. Sveinbjarnarson, University of Aberdeen, 2013
Ardjachie Farm, Edderton, Ross & Cromarty, Pictish symbol stone
Measurements: H 1.79m, W 0.65m, D 0.35m
Stone type:
Place of discovery: NH 746 845
Present location: outside Tain Museum.
Evidence for discovery: uncovered during ploughing around 1960.
Present condition: broken and worn.
This irregular boulder was clearly chosen to be a symbol stone because it already bore a large number of prehistoric cupmarks. The incised symbols comprise a ‘wheel’-like disc with central hub and twelve spokes, carved above a plain L-shaped step symbol.
Date: seventh century.
References: DES 1971, 38-9; Fraser 2008, no 117.
Early Medieval Carved Stones Project, Compiled by A Ritchie 2017
Sources/Archives (4)
- --- Text/Publication/Article: Macnamara, E. 1971. 'Tain, Ardjachie Farm, cup markings and incised symbol', Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1971, p.38-9. Discovery and Excavation in Scotland. 38-9. 38-9.
- --- Interactive Resource/Online Database: RCAHMS. Canmore, online database of the Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).
- --- Text/Report: RCAHMS. 1979. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Easter Ross, Ross and Cromarty District, Highland Region. . 17, No. 121.
- --- Text/Record Form/Project Recording Form: Archaeology for Communities in the Highlands (ARCH). 2019. Finds Collection at Tain Museum.
Map
Location
| Grid reference | Centred NH 7460 8450 (10m by 10m) (Buffered by site type) |
|---|---|
| Map sheet | NH78SW |
| Geographical Area | ROSS AND CROMARTY |
| Civil Parish | TAIN |
Finds (0)
Related Monuments/Buildings (0)
Related Investigations/Events (0)
External Links (2)
- https://canmore.org.uk/site/14736 (View HES Canmore entry for this site)
- https://highlandpictishtrail.co.uk/project/tain-museum/ (Link to the Pictish trail website)
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