Archaic Sci;i.pturi\gs, 14;") 



or discs wilhoul any acconipaniiiicnl, turllicr than an occa- 

 sional c'laboralc interior dccoratixc lilling". 



On tlic Ardiniersay cross-slab already referred to the pair 

 of unconnected discs appears, and in addition the stems of 

 a budding- plant reminiscent of the tree. On a wheel-cross 

 at Uearham, Cumberland, is the tree with its roots, stem, 

 and top buds. 25 The tree is often seen both on stones and 

 vellum as foliageous work sometimes in very simple style as 

 two branches springing- from a pot or receptacle ; the trinity 

 idea being occasionally enshrined in the form of trefoils or 

 three berries. 



These discs, it has been suggested, signify the sun and 

 moon, but there is little evidence to support such a conten- 

 tion, unless it be that these orbs represented at some stage 

 a male and a female Deity respectively, or were related 

 respectively to the male and female attributes in nature. 



The discs are to be seen— the upper one slightly larger 

 than the lower — on the Inchbrayock stone. No. i, Forfar- 

 shire ;^ and on the back of the Brodie stone, ^ the upper disc 

 being- again the larger. A third disc still hig^her up on this 

 stone, with a crescent opposite to it, may represent the sun 

 and moon, but the design on this part of the stone is much 

 worn and cannot be clearly seen. The discs were often filled 

 with interlaced, spiral, or other decoration. But a couple of 

 detached discs, no matter how filled in, seems to have been 

 an unpopular design. It mny have been too meagre and 

 incomplete to give satisfaction. Perhaps also the loose 

 circles were not much used because they did not sufficiently 

 well express a simple symbolic entity, but more probably 

 because their symbolism of crude human conditions was 

 rarely called upon to be employed. Their use was certainly 

 much niore common when joined by a cross-bar or other form 

 of bridging, a variant which symbolised hunianity at ;i higher 

 stage when mutual help came in. 



25 Hisidiy (if CiimherhiiuL i.. 270. 



26 E.C.M.. 224. fig. 23.5n. 



27 E.C.M.. 132. fig. 136\. 



