PERTHSHIRE, SCOTLAND—Live Science reports that a stone cross slab carved by the Picts between A.D. 500 and 700 was uncovered in a cemetery near the village of Doune in central Scotland. In addition to a knotted circular cross, the stone, which measures about four feet tall and three feet wide, is decorated with birds, a bull, and an inscription in ogham, a medieval alphabet that was used to write the early Irish language. Stirling Council archaeologist Murray Cook said that the cross slab is the first to be found in the region, which in antiquity served as a neutral zone between the Picts and invading Romans, and later, Britons. He suggests that the inscribed stone might have originally been a public monument commissioned by a wealthy individual who wished to signal both their Pictish heritage and Christian identity. "The tips of the scrolls [of the cross] end with bird heads; they might be pelicans, as there is a tradition of the pelican biting its own flesh to feed to its young, echoing Christ and the Last Supper, which becomes the Eucharist," he said. "The bull might be a symbol of a family, a region, or a god." To read about another rare Pictish stone recently found in eastern Scotland, go to "Pictish Pictograms."
