SoA Forum

History => Ancient and Medieval History => Topic started by: Imperial Dave on Sep 09, 2025, 03:07 PM

Title: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Imperial Dave on Sep 09, 2025, 03:07 PM
Scottish caves with 1,700 year old pictish carvings you have never heard of - Daily Record https://share.google/TyZiUR1ojkq4wUgwk

Hopefully of interest
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Jim Webster on Sep 09, 2025, 04:10 PM
It was, I hadn't realised cave carvings were something Picts did.
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Imperial Dave on Sep 09, 2025, 05:37 PM
Neither did I!
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: tadamson on Sep 11, 2025, 12:43 PM
https://scapetrust.org/picts-and-the-wemyss-caves/

Some extra information.  Excellent way to spend a day...........
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Keraunos on Sep 11, 2025, 01:29 PM
Thanks for the link.  That is fascinating.
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Erpingham on Sep 11, 2025, 01:46 PM
One wonders whether they carved on the cave walls when not gathered together and grooving with several species of small furry animals?
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Imperial Dave on Sep 11, 2025, 01:54 PM
Quote from: tadamson on Sep 11, 2025, 12:43 PMhttps://scapetrust.org/picts-and-the-wemyss-caves/

Some extra information.  Excellent way to spend a day...........

yes, great link. Love stuff like this
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Sharur on Sep 28, 2025, 02:35 PM
Channel 4's much missed Time Team did an excavation at the Wemyss Caves, broadcast first in 2005, and which shows the Pictish cave carvings too. YouTube link to the full show. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp_TLZwKVtc)
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Imperial Dave on Sep 28, 2025, 02:45 PM
Good spot and thanks for the link  :)
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Sharur on Oct 11, 2025, 01:54 PM
A further follow-up to this, as while reading through "Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North" yesterday (I'm about halfway through currently - probable Slingshot review to follow, as it's a good, modern introduction to the Picts, as currently understood), I came across mention of Wemyss again (sadly, without any additional references to add here), but which also referred to Pictish symbols found in the Sculptor's Cave, Covesea, Moray. That did include a reference, and what joy today to discover it's available online, as a free PDF downloadable 321-page ebook!

The text is "Darkness Visible: The Sculptor's Cave, Covesea, from the Bronze Age to the Picts", edited by Ian Armit and Lindsey Büster, published by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 2022 (although "Picts" gives 2020, which may be the hard-copy version). You can find the free PDF link here (https://books.socantscot.org/digital-books/catalog/book/10). It's a full archaeological report, and there's a lot of detail there, including masses of images and diagrams.
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Imperial Dave on Oct 11, 2025, 07:14 PM
Great thanks for the link
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Sharur on Oct 14, 2025, 09:21 AM
Two more...

"The Pictish Symbol Stones of Scotland" (Historic Environment Scotland, by Iain Fraser (editor) & John Borland (illustrator), 2008) is referred to by "Picts: Scourge of Rome, Rulers of the North" as a frequent source in its chapter on the Pictish symbols late in the book, from which are two more caves with a single symbol in each, at Caiplie and Clashach Cove in Moray, aside from those at Wemyss and Covesea already noted here.

The Symbol Stones book contains illustrations of all known Pictish symbol stones (up to 2008), without interpretive work. Sadly though, the book is not currently in print, and there seems to be no ebook version available either.
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Imperial Dave on Oct 14, 2025, 04:08 PM
Thank you once more  :)
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Sharur on Oct 17, 2025, 09:24 PM
One last link from that "Picts" book (which I've almost finished now), the website for the Save Wemyss Ancient Caves Society, https://wemysscaves.org/.

This in turn, if you dig around on it, will bring you to a link for the Wemyss 4D website, where you can take a virtual tour of the 3D-scanned caves themselves: https://4dwemysscaves.org/ . The "4D" comes from the fact the site traces through the history of the caves as well. I'd definitely recommend spending some time exploring the caves this way, if Pictish symbols, et al., are your things!
Title: Re: Scottish caves with Pictish carvings
Post by: Imperial Dave on Oct 18, 2025, 04:50 AM
That is really up my street....now if you can link it into VR....