Mail Description of stone
Event ID 1014906
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1014906
Mail 4 (St Columba/St Paul), Cunningsburgh, Shetland, Pictish symbol stone
Measurements: H 0.61m, W 0.42m, D 0.03m
Stone type: fine-grained old red sandstone
Place of discovery: HU 4324 2789
Present location: Shetland Museum, Lerwick (ARC 1992.1000)
Evidence for discovery: found in the 1960s during grave-digging in Mail cemetery and built into the churchyard wall. It was lying loose in the graveyard when it was re-discovered there in 1992.
Present condition: the top of the slab appears to have been crudely dressed, while the lower edge is broken.
Description
Firmly incised on one broad face of this slab is the formidable man symbol. The figure is 0.44m high and faces right, it depicts either an animal-headed god or a human wearing an animal mask. The head has a long snout with bared teeth and a large oval eye, and a beard seems to emerge from beneath it. Some sort of headdress covers from the forehead to the shoulders. He is carrying a club in his left hand and an axe-hammer in his right hand, resting against his right shoulder. He is wearing a tunic reaching almost to his knees, with a gored skirt and a hem border decorated with step pattern.
Date: seventh or eighth century.
References: Turner 1994; Scott & Ritchie 2009, no 6.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2016
