Nigg Stone
The Nigg Stone or Stone of Nigg is one of the stone monuments from the time of the Picts , as they can be found in large numbers in the north of Scotland . It stands in the parish church of the hamlet of Nigg, located on the peninsula of the same name on the south-east coast of the Council Area Highland and is considered to be one of the most elaborate and best elaborated examples of its kind.
history
The second half of the eighth century is assumed to be the time of origin of the stone. It is not known where the stone was placed at the time. The oldest documentary sources name the cemetery directly adjacent to the parish church of Nigg and probably in the entrance area there. It was at this point in 1727 when it was knocked over by a strong storm. It was then placed directly on the church, leaning against the gable end.
It was still there when Charles Cordiner visited the stone in the 1780s. Cordiner, a priest from Banff , who also worked as a landscape painter, draftsman, illustrator and archaeologist, had traveled the area a few years earlier and on that occasion (re) discovered the Hilton of Cadboll stone. He wrote the first known description and also a drawing made by him and engraved by Peter Mazell, at least on one side, from the year 1788.
A few years later attempts were made to move the stone because it stood in the way of access to the burial place of one of the local clan families , the Ross of Kindean . The top part broke off, a smaller piece has been missing since then. The stone was then placed upside down. In this condition, Charles Carter Petley, who also made a drawing, this time from both sides, found him around 1811. In the following years, the lower part of the upper part, on which a so-called Pictish Beast was depicted, was lost, because when the stone was sketched again around 1855, this time by Andrew Gibb, it was already missing. The part was rediscovered in 1998 in a nearby stream bed. The circumstances of the find suggest that it was deliberately thrown away. It is now kept in the museum in Tain .
At the instigation of John Romilly Allen (1847–1907), who recorded all relevant objects for his standard work Early Christian Monuments of Scotland , published together with Joseph Anderson (1832–1916) at the end of the 19th century , the stone was given a protected one a small grid separated area set up. The upper part was placed directly on the lower part, both connected with steel clips, the whole thing then fixed with a steel rod. The rod was later removed and an artificial spacer was inserted in order to better represent the original dimensions.
Today the stone is in the church, which has been converted into a museum, and can be viewed there. Church and stone are on the Pictish Trail , a tourist route run by the Highland Council, with seventeen stops to bring interested visitors closer to the culture of the Picts. In July 2012, the stone was taken to a workshop in Edinburgh, where it was restored. The stone has been on the list of Scheduled Monuments kept by Historic Scotland since 1925 , making it a listed building.
description
The stone is about 2.20 meters high and one meter wide, made of the old-red sandstone that is predominant in the area in the underground and provided with relief-like representations and ornaments. Both sides are strictly geometrically divided into individual fields. The cross shown on one side with its narrower bars, which connects the central area with the ends, resembles other stones such as those by Meigle , Monifieth or Kirriemuir . The hemispherical type of ornamentation, conveying spatial depth, is known from a drawing from the Lindisfarne Gospels . There are further similarities to the high crosses from the island of Iona and with representations from Ireland. The same applies to the monumental stones of the Hilton of Cadboll and Shandwick, which are only a few kilometers away . Research results between 1991 and 2007 of a previously unknown Pictish monastery near Portmahomack, almost twenty kilometers northeast of Nigg, also suggest a common origin of the three stones.
The scenery in the gable part can be interpreted as depictions from the life of the desert father Paul . He and Antonius studying scripture together; the bird coming from above to get the bread; the two palm trees that offered him protection in his desert dwelling; the two lions that Paul is said to have buried in the desert after his death. Everything as it was told by Jerome in the legend of Paul that he wrote. Alternatively, an incident from the life of Columban could also be considered, in which, as described in the hagiography written by Adomnan , he was asked by Cronan, a bishop from Munster , Ireland , to break bread with him . The two dogs under the table could refer to ( Mk 7.28 EU ), according to which something should fall off the bread that is eaten on it for them too.
The lower scene also shows Christian references. You can see David , in the early Christian iconography of the British Isles, often as a symbol for Jesus himself and identified through the attributes of a sheep and a harp . Other people and a number of animals suggest the representation of a hunt. The scenery is similar to that on the so-called sarcophagus of St. Andrews , found in the cathedral of the city of the same name , which also dates from the Pictish period. These people may also represent David fighting a lion or simply providing general protection. Hunting-like scenes can generally be seen on stones from this period.
Two other people are shown in the lower area. One carries a circular object in each hand, possibly a tympanum . With her head tilted, she faces the other figure sitting on a horse, which would be classified as female due to its lady seat . The constellation looks like a representation from the ancient Greek and later ancient Roman Cybele cult .
It is noticeable that none of the geometrical figures is shown from the rich treasure trove of pictorial symbols. Only the so-called Pictish Beast can be clearly assigned to this, possibly also the bird of prey shown above.
Since the stone shows both Christian motifs and, with the Pictish Beast, at least one of the classic Pictish symbols, it is classified in class 2 according to the classification used for the Pictish stones. It is therefore both a Pictish symbol stone and a cross plate . On the side with the hunting scenery it is significantly more damaged than on the cross side. This suggests that at some point an unsuccessful attempt was made to chisel off these depictions in order to replace them with a contemporary inscription and to reuse the stone as a tombstone or slab. Such was the fate that befell the Hilton of Cadboll Stone.
classification
Already early attempts to explain it established a connection between the three stones, but assumed a Scandinavian origin. Associated with them was a legend according to which they marked the grave sites of three Danish royal sons who had drowned off the coast. A corresponding description by Hugh Miller exists from the year 1835. In fact, since the early Middle Ages there had been repeated, not necessarily peaceful, contacts with Danes in the narrower sense, as well as with Vikings in general . The Orkneyinga saga tells of a battle that took place in the 11th century on Tarbat Ness, the northern tip of the Tarbat peninsula and thus not too far from Nigg, and a Scottish king named Karl Hundason, possibly a mock name for Thorfinn the Mighty for Macbeth , have inflicted a sensitive defeat. Incidentally, the remains of an earthwork , formerly probably a fort with a dun , at Easter Rarichie, southwest of Shandwick, which until recently, also on topographical maps, were listed as Danish Fort , were actually assigned a comparable assignment the late iron and thus the Pict time are to be assigned.
These classifications are all considered outdated, the stones clearly belong to the Pictish culture. The cave mentioned in the legend also counts as the presumed residence of a Pictish king named Nechtan, but is possibly even older. Still unclear, besides the symbolism shown, is the purpose of their existence. Previous approaches have generally assumed that these monuments could be markings for heroes' graves, cemeteries, hermitages or former chapels, memorial stones for important events or the setting of boundaries. Under the impression of the results of the latest excavations at Portmahomack, there is also the consideration that there could have been several portages in the entire area around the former monastery, i.e. shallow, short land connections between waters on which boats were transported overland in order to avoid detours or To avoid danger zones. In this context, the stones could also function as markers for seafaring, for example by marking a landing site . It should also be taken into account here that at the time of their creation in the early Middle Ages, the sea level was a good deal higher, and the visibility of individual places was accordingly different from today.
literature
- Charles Cordiner: Of Monuments . In: Charles Cordiner: Remarkable ruins, and romantic prospects, of North Britain. With ancient monuments, and singular subjects of natural history . London, 1788. This figure also includes a picture of the stone (English)
- Hugh Miller: Scenes and legends of the north of Scotland, or The traditional history of Cromarty. Edinburgh 1835, pp. 84ff . First edition and further editions of the complete work in the Open Library (English)
- Charles Carter Petley: A short account of some carved stones in Ross-shire, accompanied with a series of outline engravings. Archaeologia Scotica, Volume IV, Edinburgh 1857, pp. 345-352. Digitized version on the Archeology Data Service website, PDF file, 4 MB, accessed on September 20, 2012. (English)
- Cecil L. Curle: The Chronology of the Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, pp. 98ff. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 74, 1939/40, Edinburgh 1940, pp. 60-116. Digitized version on the Archeology Data Service website, PDF file, 12 MB. (English)
- Ellen MacNamara and Mike Taylor: The Pictish Stones of Easter Ross , Tain 2003. ISBN 1-901595-00-5 (English)
- Douglas Scott: The Stones of the Pictish Peninsulas , 2004. ISBN 0-9548315-0-0 (English)
- Martin Carver: An Iona of the East: the early medieval monastery at Portmahomack, Easter Ross, pp. 25ff. In: Medieval Archeology 48, 2004, pp. 1–30. Digitized version , PDF file, 1.2 MB, accessed on September 29, 2012. (English)
Web links
- Scheduled Monument - entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- Entry Stone of Nigg in the Historic Environment Record of the Highland Council (English)
- Entry on Nigg Stone in Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland's database
- The Nigg Stone in the database Pictish symbol stones of the University of Strathclyde (English)
- Church and stone information on the Nigg Old Trust website
- List of historical monuments and historical and cultural website of the Highland Council , each with search function
Individual evidence
- ↑ See also this photo from the early 1920s.
- ↑ The Pictish Trail ( Memento of the original from August 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the Highland Council website. Retrieved October 12, 2012. (English)
- ↑ Work starts on Easter Ross's Nigg cross-slab . BBC News, July 26, 2012, accessed October 6, 2012. (English)
- ^ Josef Strzygowski : Origin of Christian church art; new facts and principles of research Oxford 1923, p. 240ff, directly to the side . Edition of the Origin of Christian Ecclesiastical Art translated into English ; new facts and principles of art research from 1920, for which a ninth chapter on early medieval sacred art on the British Isles was written.
- ^ W. Norman Robertson: St John's Cross, Iona, Argyll , p. 121. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 106, 1974/75, Edinburgh 1975, pp. 111-123. Digitized version , PDF file, 3MB. (English)
- Jump up ↑ JB Kenworthy: A further fragment of early Christian sculpture from St Mary of the Rock, St Andrews, Fife , p. 360. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 110, 1979/80, Edinburgh 1980, p 356-363. Digitized version, PDF file, 849kB. (English)
- ^ David McRoberts: The Ecclesiastical Significance of the St Ninian's Isle Treasure, pp. 307f. In: Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 94, 1960/61, Aberdeen 1961, pp. 301-314. Digitized , PDF file, 2MB. (English)
- ↑ Entry on Easter Rarichie in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
- ^ Martin Oswald Hugh Carver: Portmahomack. Monastery of the Picts. Edinburgh 2008, p. 176. Preview (English)
- ↑ Center for Field Archeology: Inner Moray Firth Coastal Survey, Vol. 2, Edinburgh 1998, p. 221. Digitized , 33 MB, accessed on October 12, 2012 (English)
Coordinates: 57 ° 43 ′ 9.1 ″ N , 4 ° 0 ′ 31.7 ″ W.