Archaic Sci'i.pturings. 141 



lavishlv repeated on the Craig-nari4et stone and on the cross- 

 slab once at Sinniness, Wigtownshire. ^^ 



On the Craignary^et stone are set, marginally, at least 

 nine double-lined senii-o\als or semi-circles, the open side 

 beinj,'- alwavs placed outwards. Some ha\e a central dot or 

 central concavity. 



These strang-e de\ ices are repeated at least eight times 

 on two frag-ments of an incised slab at .\spatria with designs 

 in associations very like those on the Craignarget stone. ^'' 

 Interesting in this connection are cuttings on a cross-shaft at 

 Ecclesfield, near Leeds, on a-stone at Adcl, near Leeds, and 

 on crosses at Lanivet, Cornwall, and Gillespie, Glenluce. 



Here indeed a.re problems of a fascinating character. 

 The enigmatical sculpturings were undoubtedly associated 

 with the beliefs of the early Christians of Dumfries and 

 Galloway, and I do not think that any adequate explanation 

 has yet been forthcoming. 



In addition to these there is the rock-surface at Anwoth 

 witli characteristic Pictish symbols so common in the North- 

 Last of Scotland. This sculpturing is far (nit of its topo- 

 graphical area, for the nearest place where purely Pictish 

 symbols have been found is so far away as Edinburgh Castle, 

 where they have been noticed incised on a rock. 



The Swastika seen ox the Craigxarget Stoxe. 



This s\ mbol is a four-limbed figure (the f\ffot f)r 

 gammadion). It was a pagan symbol of good omen and of 

 great antiquity, and was widely spread over most parts of 

 the globe. It is frequently employed on the monuments in 

 semi-disguised form with key-patterns and interlacing decora- 

 tion. But in its pure form it is sparingly met with on the 

 Scottish monuments and in the early Christian manuscripts. 

 Patterns founded upon the .curviiinear variant occur some- 

 what rarely in Bronze Age decorative and symbolic work both 

 in Britain and on the Continent. It is found, in its rectilinear 



16 I'.S.A.S.. X., 59; Archl. CoU. of A,/r ,n„1 Cdllomn,. vii. 

 p. 11. 



17 If 1st. (if f'liinhrrhi lul. vol. i.. p. 2-" I niul ilhisti'nl idii. 



