146 Archaic Sculpturings. 



Thus was evolved the much discussed " double-disc " 

 or " spectacle " symbol. 



Sometimes concentric lines within either disc increased its 

 decorative value, and frequently symbolism and art are found 

 combined, when seven spirals or seven small circles fill the 

 interior of each disc. 



Frequently the bridging was elaborated, on some occa- 

 sions with three discs, which convey the idea of the trinity. 

 Throughout these elaborations the sculptors do not appear 

 to have lost sight of the original meaning of the design, as 

 one disc was often deliberately and carefully made different 

 in size or design from its neighbour, which was quite natural 

 if one disc represented Adam and the other Eve, or more 

 generally the male and female sections of humanity. 



For example, in the Doo Cave in Fife, on the walls of 

 which the " double-disc " is several times repeated, in two 

 cases one disc of a pair is clearly disproportionate to the 

 other disc, and is intentionally made dissimilar. 



On the Inchbrayock stone, Forfarshire, one disc is dis- 

 tinctly made larger than its companion. 



On the Newton stone, Aberdeenshire, one disc has a 

 semi-circular hollow taken out of the lower side, while the 

 other disc has a central dot. 



On the Edderton stone, Ross-shire, one disc has a semi- 

 circle within it, a feature absent from the other. 



On the fragmentary stone at Drumbuie each disc has a 

 central dot, but of different sizes, and there are many other 

 cases of differentiation useful in throwing light upon the 

 enigmatical symbols of " the two discs and a tree," " the 

 separated discs," and the "joined discs." 



The tree as shown in the Court Cave became in some 

 cases a rudimentary branch of a straight rod with ornate 

 ends. This was a feeble design, and may not have appealed 

 to the artist. On the Logierait stone^s the perfectly straight 

 rod is relieved by being thickened and furnished with a 

 foliageous top, buds and young leaves sprouting from it, 

 while at the lower terminal there are bulbuous or root-like 



28 F..C.M.. 291, fig. 308b. 



