The Burghead Bulls are a group of carved

Pictish stones A Pictish stone is a type of monumental stele, generally carved or incised with symbols or designs. A few have ogham inscriptions. Located in Scotland, mostly north of the Clyde-Forth line and on the Eastern side of the country, these stones are ...

from the site of Burghead Fort in

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, each featuring an incised image of a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions, includin ...

. Up to 30 were discovered during the demolition of the fort to create the town of

Burghead Burghead ( sco, Burgheid or ''The Broch'', gd, Am Broch) is a small town in Moray, Scotland, about north-west of Elgin. The town is mainly built on a peninsula that projects north-westward into the Moray Firth, surrounding it by water on thre ...

in the 19th century, but most were lost when they were used to build the harbour quayside. Six remain: two in the Visitor Centre in Burghead, two in Elgin Museum, one in the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, and one in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Interpretation of the stones' original role has varied. Some scholars have suggested they were displayed on the fort's ramparts as symbols of power; others have seen them as having a

votive A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

role in a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

as part of a pagan fertility cult; while others argue they were standing stones lining a processional route through the ramparts, a role suggested by their likely original kite-shaped form. The Bulls probably represent an early pre-Christian phase of the fort's existence in the 7th or late 6th centuries, while the later shrine panels and cross-slabs represented by the Burghead sculpture fragments indicate the presence of an Early Christian centre during a later period, as the association between the church and royal power grew from the 7th century onwards. File:Burghead-1-Pictish-Symbol-Stone.jpg, Burghead 1 on display at the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh File:Burghead 2 Pictish Symbol Stone.jpg, Burghead 2 on display at Burghead Visitor Centre File:Burghead 3 Pictish Symbol Stone.jpg, Burghead 3 on display at Elgin Museum File:Britishmuseumburgheadbull.jpg, Burghead 5 on display at the British Museum, London File:Burghead 6 Pictish Symbol Stone.jpg, Burghead 6 on display at Elgin Museum

References

Bibliography

* {{Pictish stones Pictish stones