Decoding the
Pictish Stones

The enigmatic people named by the Romans “Picti”, meaning the “painted people” on account of their habit of tattooing their bodies with their special symbols, lived in Caledonia, the country we now call Scotland.

The mighty Romans were frustrated by the fearless warrior Picts as they attempted and failed to conquer their lands and were instead  forced into building two massive walls from coast to coast to protect the already conquered lands to the South in England.

Despite their military prowess the Picts are most famous for their beautiful and mysterious symbols they carved on stones, which unlike the hieroglyphs of Ancient Egypt, today remain undeciphered.

Many centuries later, waves of English would–be conquerors were similarly repelled and sent home “to think again” but not without first destroying manuscripts and books as they, aided by the church, attempted to emasculate Scotland by erasing both its proud ancient history and the memory of the old ways and ancient beliefs.

Fortunately, the Picts and their forefathers stretching back to Neolithic times and before that to the first settlers in Caledonia following the retreat of the massively thick ice cap and glaciers that covered the land  have left us a wealth of artefacts that are unique to their culture. Embedded within these misunderstood items lies the lost history of an amazing lost people. The study attempts to decode the hidden information in these wonderfully strange artefacts that rival and surpass those of the great known ancient civilisations not in their opulence but the even more precious value of the knowledge they contain.