Painted pebble
Painted pebbles are painted pebbles that have been found during archaeological excavations in northern Scotland . They are attributed to the culture of the Picts , their function has not yet been clarified.
description
The Painted Pebbles are pebbles made from locally occurring quartzite that have been painted with geometric objects. Mostly they are points or circles; curved lines, crosses, triangles, semicircles, and in one case a dog foot are also shown. Some drawings are similar to the motifs shown on Pictish symbol stones . The size of the pebbles ranges from 23 by 14 mm to 94 by 77.5 mm, the majority of them are around 30 by 50 mm and are therefore easy to hold in the hand.
Temporal and cultural allocation
If the local find conditions allowed a stratigraphic classification , the stones were initially assigned to the period between the second and the eighth century. Earlier production was also discussed for two stones, although a fluvial relocation to older settlement layers could not be ruled out. Finds from the mid-2000s have now proven that the stones were already in use in the Middle Iron Age , i.e. before the turn of the century . The vast majority come from or from the area around Iron Age Brochs , and here from those for which a later use by the Pictish population has been proven. The Buckquoy Stone was also found in a Pictish settlement. The single find from Hallow Hill to the west of St Andrews in Fife was in a Roman child's grave, which based on the other additions could be dated to the first to third centuries.
function
What purpose the Painted Pebbles served is still unclear. Most likely, they are magical stones that promise health, ward off or cure disease, or provide other benefits to the wearer. This theory is supported by the fact that such stones, known as “charm stones” or “cold stones” , had a long tradition in the northern regions of the British Isles, but also in Iceland . Submerged in water, they should promise healing from illness to the drinker. In his life story of St. Columban , Adomnan reports the use of such a stone for the period around 565, and a case from Angus is documented where such a stone was still carried around the neck by a peasant in a leather pouch in 1870. A stone from the Bayanne House settlement near Sellafirth on Yell Island was found along with artifacts that are considered to be a shaman's equipment . Quartz pebbles have been known as grave goods in the British Isles since the Bronze Age, possibly as a "light stone" that was supposed to symbolize death and rebirth.
The magic theory is supported by the fact that the two stones from Sandwick on the southeast coast of Unst were found together with slag from iron processing. In some cultures, blacksmiths are said to have magical powers and connections to the world beyond . The Portmahomack stone was also found in an area where copper was made. The reporter, Martin Carver, was the head of an excavation that discovered a Pictish monastery from the 6th century.
Another possibility suggested was the use as a sling stone , whereby the painting should either magically increase the accuracy or mark the owner of the stone, but also the function as a game stone of a (otherwise unknown) game or as a cult object .
Manufacturing
No statements can be made about the colors used, as their brown remains have so far not been sufficient for an investigation. Experimentally , good results were achieved in the early 2010s using a pitch-like material that arises as a residue when burning peat . This can be found widespread on the earth's surface in the north of the British Isles; its use as heating material in the Shetlands has already been proven for the early Iron Age. The material was applied with a straw, for the round shapes were halved quills and stems of Angelica used.
Find history and locations
The first two documented finds come from excavations carried out by William Traill in the Broch of Burrian in 1870 and 1871 . They went unnoticed as they were only marginally mentioned in the report that was published only a decade later.
In 1890, the entrepreneur and MP Francis Tress Barry began archaeological excavations in various locations around his home at Keiss Castle in Caithness . Among the objects examined during the first decade of its activity were nine brochs. Due to conflicting records, there were either three or four different ones, in which he found a total of eleven Painted Pebbles. With the Road Broch ( Kirk Tofts , 1 stone) and the Wester Broch ( Castle Linglas , 3 stones) at least two of them could be identified. The location of the remaining seven Painted Pebbles is unclear. Up to 2014, a total of 55 stones were found in various locations. Excavations carried out since the beginning of the 2000s on Old Scatness on Mainland , the main island of the Shetlands , have proven to be particularly productive with 14 Painted Pebbles .
A total of 35 stones were found in the Shetlands, 4 in the Orkneys , 12 in the north of Highland and 3, each individually found, in other regions of Scotland. Another stone found in Crosskirk , Caithness, later revealed that the coloring was of natural origin.
Eight of the stones are on display in the Scottish National Museum in Edinburgh , more are in the Orkney Museum in Kirkwall , the Shetland Museum in Lerwick and the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow .
literature
- Robbie Arthur, Jenny Murray: Painting the stones black: solving the mystery of painted quartz pebbles. Archeology Reports Online 14, Glasgow 2014. With a list of objects found so far, compiled by Anna Ritchie. Available online , PDF file, 1.11 MB (English)
- Anna Ritchie: Painted pebbles in early Scotland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 104 (1971-1972), pp. 291-301. Digitized version , PDF file, 448 kB (English)
- Joseph Anderson : Notices of Nine Brochs along the Caithness Coast from Keiss Bay to Skirza Head, excavated by Sir Francis Tress Barry, Bart., MP, of Keiss Castle, Caithness. Proceedings of The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 35, 1900-1901, pp. 112-148. (English) Digitized version , PDF file, 2.9 MB (English)
- Francis Tress Barry: Notes on painted pebbles from the Keiss brochs. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London , 17 (1897-99), pp. 191f. (English)
Web links
- Keiss, Kirk Tofts, "road" brochure on Canmore's website; with drawings of the stones found by Tress Barry
Individual evidence
- ↑ Angelika Franz: Math geniuses in the British wilderness. Spiegel Online, November 3, 2008, accessed August 7, 2018
- ↑ a b Painted Pebbles on the Scottish National Museums website, accessed August 5, 2018
- ^ William Traill: Results of excavations at the broch of Burrian, North Ronaldsay, Orkney, during the summers of 1870-1871 Archaeologia Scotica, Vol. 5, Volume 2, pp. 341-364, Edinburgh 1880. Digitized PDF file, 1 , 8 MB (English)