Symbol Stone and Adjacent Standing Stone Ardlair, SSW Of Kennethmont, Scotland

Text courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland. © Crown Copyright, reprinted under the Open Government License.

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics: The stones have the potential to enhance the study of Bronze-Age communities and their ritual practices in Britain. Their proximity to the nearby Ardlair recumbent stone circle indicates that they are part of a wider ceremonial complex, either 'outliers', or the remains of a second stone circle, or part of a stone row that might even pre-date the stone circle.

The symbol-incised stone bears well-preserved carvings that have the potential to enhance the study of Pictish symbol stones, the development of Insular art in Britain and Ireland and technical aspects of carving stones in the early medieval period.

Very few symbol-incised stones still stand where they were first erected (for instance, this applies to only 4/43 examples in this area). As here, surviving examples show a preference for location on low knolls that form relatively prominent local features, and there is a recurring association with water.

Contextual characteristics: The standing stones at Ardlair are part of a distribution of standing stones extending over much of Britain. Because we find these monuments over much of Britain, it indicates that elements of the ritual practices of Bronze-Age communities were also widespread.

The Picts used their unique symbols in a range of contexts, but we find the majority of surviving examples carved on stones, the earliest examples being on unshaped stones like that at Ardlair (around 200 examples survive). The meaning of the symbols is much debated, but they may represent personal names. The Ardlair symbol-incised stone provides evidence for the cultural links that existed between different parts of the British Isles in the early medieval period. While the symbol designs are unique to the Picts, their content provides evidence for how the art of the Picts relates to the Insular art style of this period, and the relationship to art in different media, such as metalwork. This provides important evidence for the relationship between the Picts and their early medieval neighbours.

National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant addition to the understanding of the past, in particular of the ritual life of Bronze-Age communities in Aberdeenshire and their cultural links with other areas of the British Isles. It can also tell us about the nature of Pictish life in Aberdeenshire and their cultural links with other areas of Scotland and the British Isles. It is a rare instance of a symbol-incised stone still situated in its original location. This helps us to understand the relationship of such monuments to Pictish perceptions of the landscape, as well as to earlier prehistoric monuments.