Pagan Symbols of the Picts by Stuart McHardy sampler

Preface
given the length of time since they were created and the lack of
direct written evidence concerning the Pictish symbols, some of
their meanings are more opaque than others. My interpretations in
some cases have extensive support within early texts while in other
instances much of what I suggest is almost completely speculative
and perhaps incapable of any real extent of proof. Hopefully, with
the increasing sophistication of archaeological methodologies and
the development of new techniques, our under standing will be
improved. However, I hope the approach adopted here can lead to
a clearer vision of what the symbols may mean, and thus may help
us gain a clearer understanding of the inhabitants of 1st millennium
Scotland and earlier.
The ideas presented in this book have developed over nearly 40
years of study and contemplation and thus any mistakes are mine
alone. Where I have quoted others, this is in support of my
contentions and it should not be assumed that those quoted agree
with all, or even any, of what is presented herein. Having taken a
university degree in history, I am aware that most of what is called
history has been written at the behest of what can only be called
‘elites’. Because of this, much of what passes for human history,
and indeed archaeology, is overly concerned with earlier elites, even
where there is no hard evidence that they existed. Most history
books until relatively recently paid little attention to anyone other
than elite groups of males between their late teens and middle age.
Women generally are only noticed in detail when they are fulfilling
a role normally assumed to be a masculine one and there are few, if
any, mentions of other women, children, healers, poets, musicians,
farmers, fisherfolk, craftspeople and many other groups in society.
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