ARCHITECTURE IN ABERDEEN: A SURVEY 67 
where they have no such association, we must remember that on the spot 
may once have been a primitive chapel, all knowledge of which may have 
perished. One case, however, occurs where symbols are incised on one 
of a group of two standing stones assignable probably to the Bronze 
Age: but here the symbols may be secondary. It is at all events clear 
that the symbolism was capable in its entirety of bearing a Christian 
meaning, as is shown by its association with the cross on the monuments 
of Class II. The symbols have also been found inscribed on objects of 
metal and bone, and rudely carved on natural rock surfaces. In no 
authentic case has one of the symbol stones been found in connection 
with a burial. 
Equally mysterious is the sudden way in which this symbolism blossoms 
forth as a fully developed and highly elaborate art. Even in Class I 
stones the symbols appear as a mature, systematic and determinate 
hieroglyphic corpus, which must surely have had a long evolutionary 
history behind it. But of its more primitive stages nothing is known. 
It is a mistake to imagine that the rude representations of the symbols 
cut or scratched on the walls of certain caves represent such an earlier 
stage of development, for the symbols on the monuments are clearly the 
work of skilled carvers trained in the conventions of their art, whereas 
those found in the caves are the amateur graffiti of hermits. 
The distribution of these monuments in their three classes presents 
some interesting problems. By far the greatest number of Class I occur 
in Aberdeenshire, and specially in the Lower Garioch, so as to suggest 
that the symbolic art may perhaps have originated in this area. When we 
pass into Class II the focus shifts southward into Angus. This may be 
due to the fact that the soft sandstones below the Highland boundary 
fault are more suited for the elaborately carved stones of this class than 
are the intractable granites and schists of the Mearns and Aberdeenshire. 
The names commonly given to the symbols are merely convenient 
labels. It seems hard to believe that the ‘ mirror’ and ‘ comb’ symbols 
can represent anything else than these articles, whatever their symbolical 
import. On the other hand, it is impossible to say what the so-called 
‘elephant,’ the ‘ double-disc and Z rod,’ the ‘ crescent and V rod,’ or 
the ‘ two-legged rectangle ’ are intended to portray. The animal forms 
suggest affinities with the early Christian Bestiaries. About fifty different 
symbol forms are known, and the way in which various combinations 
recur is significant. 
