“The Rhynie Man” May Have Guarded a Pictish Fort
Monday, August 24, 2015
ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND—Gordon Noble of the University of Aberdeen and his team have returned to the site where an image of a man with a large, pointed nose wearing a headdress and carrying an ax on his shoulder was discovered on a six-foot-tall stone in 1978, near the village of Rhynie. They think the area may have been a high-status or royal Pictish site, and that the so-called Rhynie Man’s ax may have been a type that was used for ceremonies and animal sacrifice. “We found many long-distance connections such as pottery from the Mediterranean, glass from France and Anglo-Saxon metal work with evidence to suggest that intricate metalwork was produced on site,” Noble said in a press release. The fifth or sixth-century Rhynie Man stone may have stood at the entrance to a fort. “We want to try and identify exactly where he was standing as this will give us a better idea how he fits into the high status site and what his role may have been,” Noble explained. To read more about Picts, go to "Game of Stones."
Advertisement
Panama’s golden grave, Viking dental exams, an unusual papyrus preservative, playing games in ancient Kenya, and a venerable Venetian church
Within a knight’s grasp
Advertisement
Advertisement