Mysterious Symbols in the North: An Analysis of Scotland's Pictish Symbol Stones

During the Roman occupation and conquest of regions that today form England and Scotland, Roman generals and historians wrote of the people they found living in these frozen regions of the world. The Romans referred to these populations as Pictii or the 'painted people', but provided little information about them. Nearly two thousand years after the disappearance of Pictish culture from historic records their symbol inscribed stones endure in the archaeological record, inspiring scholars to investigate and seek meaning in these symbols. The distribution of some common Pictish symbols throughout Scotland may help provide insight into their culture. In this study I investigate several characteristics of Pictish symbols, their distribution, and relationships.