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Flotta Description of stone
Event ID 1085701
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Early Medieval Carved Stones Project
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1085701
Flotta 2, Orkney, incised panel
Measurements: H 0.8m, W 1.7m, D 0.07m
Stone type: sandstone
Place of discovery: ND 3668 9310
Present location: in the old graveyard on Kirk Bay in Flotta.
Evidence for discovery: found in 2017 lying flat in the old graveyard by Donald Sutherland. Beneath it at either end were rectangular dressed stones, and rubble in the area between the, which may suggest that the slab had been re-used as a grave-cover.
Present condition: weathered and there is damage to two corners and along the edges.
Description
This rectangular slab is evenly worked on its top and sides but the base is rough and irregular. It is incised on one broad face with a thin pecked line running about 40mm from the edges of the top long side and the two short sides, creating a plain flat-band border. On the short sides these lines stop some 160-200mm short of the base of the slab. The dimensions of the slab, the broken base and the position of the pecked lines all closely match Flotta 1.
On the face of the slab, two pairs of parallel vertical lines, each pair 30mm wide, run down the centre, enclosing a plain panel about 200mm wide, which again finishes some 200mm short of the bottom of the slab. The position of this panel on the slab, its width and the distance between the parallel lines all match those of the vertical arm of the cross on Flotta 1.
Also on the face of the slab, 60mm from the left side and 350mm from the top is a narrow horizontal groove some 27cm long.
The narrow sides and top of the slab are dressed and even, but the rear is mainly rough except for areas that have been dressed on the outer sides of the slots and along the top, leaving a rough central area some 10-20mm higher. Two vertical slots each approximately 100mm from the right and left sides and 60mm wide run from around 140mm from the top to the broken base. They match a similar pair of slots on Flotta 1, suggesting that side slabs could be fitted between them to form an altar or shrine.
Date range: eighth or ninth century.
Source: Donald Sutherland and Chris Gee, pers. comm.
A Ritchie 2019
