page_title: Pictish stone
section_title: Distribution and sites
hierarchical_section_title: Pictish stone / Distribution and sites
caption_attribution_description: English: Distribution of Pictish Stones of Classes I and II as well as Caves containing Pictish symbol graffiti
context_page_description: A Pictish stone is a type of monumental stele, generally carved or incised with symbols or designs. A few have ogham inscriptions. Located in Scotland, mostly north of the Clyde-Forth line and on the Eastern side of the country, these stones are the most visible remaining evidence of the Picts and are thought to date from the 6th to 9th century, a period during which the Picts became Christianized. The earlier stones have no parallels from the rest of the British Isles, but the later forms are variations within a wider Insular tradition of monumental stones such as high crosses. About 350 objects classified as Pictish stones have survived, the earlier examples of which holding by far the greatest number of surviving examples of the mysterious Pictish symbols, which have long intrigued scholars.
context_section_description: Only a few stones still stand at their original sites; most have been moved to museums or other protected sites.   Some of the more notable individual examples and collections are listed below (Note that listing is no guarantee of unrestricted access, since some lie on private land). Pictish Symbol stones have been found throughout Scotland, although their original locations are concentrated largely in the North East of the country in lowland areas, the Pictish heartland.  During the period when the stones were being created, Christianity was spreading through Scotland from the west and the south, through the kingdoms of Dál Riata, which included parts of Ireland, and the extension into modern Scotland of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Bernicia and Northumbria.
  Areas that show particular concentrations include Strathtay, Strathmore, coastal Angus, Fife, Strathdee, Garioch, Moray, Strathspey, Caithness, Easter Ross, the Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland.
  Two Pictish Class I stones are known to have been removed from Scotland.  These are Burghead 5 (Moray), showing the figure of a bull, now in the British Museum, and the Crosskirk stone (Caithness), presented to the King of Denmark in the 19th century, but whose location is currently unknown.
caption: Distribution of Class I and Class II stones, as well as caves holding Pictish symbol graffiti
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