Vivid representations of animals as well as objects are the clearest signs to have survived from Pictish tribal society. These are found principally on their standing stones which may have marked the graves of important individuals.

The Picts were eventually to join with the Scots who came to Argyll from Ireland to form the basis for the Scotland of today. They seemed to have lived in a stratified or hierarchical society, with a militaristic outlook - so that warfare played an important part in their lives. But we know them best through the characteristic art - their most vivid legacy from Early Historic Scotland.

Though many of the animals they carved belonged to everyday life, the meaning of some of the symbols has been the source of much speculation; one intriguing possibility is that they were a form of heraldry. Look for the carved representations of mirror or comb, the symbols such as the evocatively-named ‘double disc and z-rod’ or ‘crescent and v-rod’. Look for later stones, showing hunting or battle scenes, and, on the latest of all, simply Christian cross symbols, as Scotland moved into a new age.