Pictish carving: "Burghead bull"
Pictish carving: "Burghead bull"
3D
Published 2022-05-04T14:13:34+00:00
This muscular bull is an example of the magnificent stone carvings of the Picts, the Celtic-speaking people who ruled north and east Scotland between around AD 400-850s. The distinctive symbols of Pictish art, including animals, artefacts and geometric motifs, are now enigmatic. In some cases they may represent a type of commemorative writing.
Carved into a sandstone boulder, this bull is one of up to thirty bull sculptures found at Burghead, a major Pictish fortress in northern Scotland. Its lifelike pose and coloured legs and belly are characteristically Pictish. Once probably brightly painted, the carved bulls would have held a powerful presence at Burgehead. Perhaps they symbolised warrior-like qualities of strength or aggression, held ritual significance, or were the emblem of the local ruling family.
| Date published | 04/05/2022 |
| Title | Pictish carving: "Burghead bull" |
| Date | AD 600s-700s |
| Period | Pctish |
| Medium | stone |
| Place | British Museum |
