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Picts
Rear of Aberlemno 3 Stone, Aberlemno, Angus, Scotland, 8th-9th centuries

A Pictish Hunting Scene


A larger image of the rear of the Aberlemno 3 Stone, Aberlemno, Angus, Scotland, 8th-9th centuries.

The stone on the western side of the road at Aberlemno is another Class II stone. It has an elaborately decorated ringed cross flanked by adoring angels on one side, and a hunting scene on the reverse, below two large Pictish symbols. This stone is known as Aberlemno 3. This stone has until recently been thought to date from the late eighth century. More recent comparative analyses have suggested that it may be of a later, mid-ninth-century origin.

Aberlemno 3 has different proportions to the Kirkyard Cross-slab, being relatively tall and thin, with parallel sides which have incised decoration (those of the other cross-slab are plain). The monument's height and decoration on four faces both suggest it is later in date than Aberlemno 2. Its nearest artistic analogies appear to be sculptures from Easter Ross in northern Scotland, notable the Hilton of Cadboll stone, which has a closely similar hunting scene.
Photo by Otter

The symbol side of the stone has, at the top, the crescent-and-V-rod and double-disc-and-Z-rod symbols.
At the bottom-left of the stone is an image of a centaur.
At the bottom-right is the biblical David grasping the jaws of a lion. Beside him are a harp and a sheep, symbolising his musicianship and origins as a shepherd.
The rest of this side is taken up with a hunting scene including: three stags; four horsemen; two men on foot blowing horns; three hounds. At the left a man on foot is facing the opposite direction (possibly David again with a square shield symbolising his attributes as a warrior), and in the centre of the scene is a smaller creature - a dog perhaps?