Dunnicaer
Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Site Name Dunnicaer
Classification Pictish Symbol Stone (Pictish)
Alternative Name(s) Dun-na-caer; Stonehaven; Dinnacair
Canmore ID 319618
Site Number NO88SE 2.04
NGR NO 8821 8464
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/319618
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Dunnottar
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
Dunnicaer 4, Aberdeenshire, Pictish symbol stone
Measurements: H 0.69m, W 0.31m
Stone type: red sandstone
Place of discovery: NO 884 847
Present location: Marischal Museum, University of Aberdeen (ABdua:17862).
Evidence for discovery: said to have come from Dunnicaer around 1819 in a load of building stones. It was built into a hearth in a house in Stonehaven and was rediscovered in 1859, when it was taken to Banchory House to stand in the garden.
Present condition: good.
Description
This rectangular slab bears an incised double-disc and Z-rod set at an oblique angle on one broad face, and on the other traces of carving which may include a flower symbol.
Date: seventh century.
References: Stuart 1856, pl 41; ECMS pt 3, 201; Fraser 2008, no 18.5.
Compiled by A Ritchie 2017
Reference (1980)
There are several descriptions of these stones; that (no. 4) bearing a double disc and Z-rod is in the Anthropological Museum, University of Aberdeen, while the others are at Banchory House (NJ 915 024).
No. 1 measures 0.69m x 0.46m and is incised with the double disc and Z-rod, rudely drawn, but with unusual flourishes.
No. 2 measures 0.68m x 0.38m and is incised with the fish symbol, having a triangle with a central dot above the head.
No. 3 measures 0.46m x 0.23m and bears a crescent symbol crossed with an equilateral triangle.
No. 4 measures 0.68m x 0.38m and bears the double disc and Z-rod symbol.
No. 5 measures 0.38m x 0.15m and bears a rough approximation of the double disc symbol.
No. 6 is nearly cubical in shape, measuring 0.1m each way. It bears on the front a circle and the end of a Z-rod; on the back, a circle and the letter 'R'?; on the right side, a circle (or the letter 'Q') with a small cross, and on the left, a 'T' combined with the circle as well as the cross.
Information from R Jones 1980; RCAHMS 1994.
Reference (1983)
Stonehaven 4, now in Aberdeen University Museum (ABDUA 17862)
J Inglis 1983; RCAMS 1985.
Reference (1997)
This Class I fragment was found on the shore below Dunnicaer. The fragment is the upper part of a regularly-shaped slab with a prepared face. Up the right side of the face is a raised rim, and partly incised, partly in low relief with the rim is a double-disc and Z-rod. It is of standard design but with a plain joining bar and is angled up from left to right. The end of the Z-rod's upper arm is indistinct, but the arm itself is floriated. There are forward-facing curlicues at the end of the lower arm also. The rod-end beyond these is missing. Although simple in style the double-disc and Z-rod was not the first of the symbols on it. On the other face are the remains of others which rise upwards from one side of the slab. At the regular end is more than half of a plain mirror the left side of which is missing, apparently lost when the stone was trimmed into a slab. The upper boss of the handle can just be distinguished. Next is a very faint double-sided comb, and near the broken end of the slab is the upper part of a flower its single head drooping to the right and its base missing.
A Mack 1997
