Zodiacal dating the Burghead Bulls


A Pictish (Burghead) bull symbol stone in the National Museum of Scotland

The Pictish bull symbol has had a hard time justifying itself. Jackson (in The Symbol Stones of Scotland) claims it is not a Pictish symbol at all, because it never occurs in a pair - which is his definition of a Pictish symbol. Cummins (in The Picts and their Symbols) makes no mention of bull symbols at all. This is despite around 30 'individual' bull symbols being found at Burghead that have the same style as all the other Pictish symbols. Only 6 of these symbols have survived (one is in the National Museum of Scotland - see above).

Burghead is the site of an ancient Pictish fort, thought to be the oldest and largest Pictish site of all. While radiocarbon evidence suggests the ancient fort dates back to the 5th century BC, much older iron age and even bronze age finds have been uncovered nearby, indicating the area was occupied from a very early time.

Apart from its bull symbols, Burghead is known for its 'burning of the Clavie' festival. This is essentially a fire worship festival that occurs on the date of the old New Year. Therefore, it was probably an ancient winter solstice festival originally. The Clavie is a kind of giant torch that is carried around the town by the Clavie-bearers. Embers from the Clavie would be taken home to light fireplaces, and it is even said they are a defence against witches.

Now, given the large number of bull symbols at Burghead, and assuming they ARE Pictish, as is obviously the case, it makes sense that they have a deliberate and correct meaning. I'm suggesting the Burghead bulls are not just 'mistakes' or 'practice' pieces. If so, then we can estimate a date for them using our zodiacal dating method.

Of course, we know the bull as the constellation Taurus these days. This association comes to us from Bronze Age Mesopotamia, through Ancient Greece. However, in our ancient zodiac, the bull represents Capricornus. Everywhere else we have observed bulls, from Palaeolithic art through to Gobekli Tepe, Catalhoyuk, and the Pashaputi Seal of Mohenjo-Daro, the bull represents Capricornus, not Taurus.

Interestingly, Capricornus is the winter solstice constellation from around 1800 BC through to 0 AD. After this time, Sagittarius (represented by the eagle/vulture) is the winter solstice constellation. Therefore, it appears that the Burghead bull symbols are more ancient than most of the other Pictish symbols, as they likely represent Caprcornus at the winter solstice before 0 AD, pre-dating the eagle symbols. The fact that the burning of the Clavie festival is also held in Burghead on the old New Year (i.e. winter solstice) date adds further weight to this dating of the bull symbols.

The antiquity of these bull symbols possibly also explains their slight difference from usual class I Pictish symbols stones, in that they are not paired with other symbols. I suggest, therefore, that we should provide a new class of more ancient Pictish symbol stone - let's call them class 0 - to which the Burghead bulls belong.

Comments

  1. DarwinJanuary 17, 2020 at 10:34 AM

    I would love to see more work from you on Britain.
    I'm just getting into interpretations of Newgrange specifically - books being: Stones of Time, Irish Symbols 3500 BC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prehistory DecodedJanuary 18, 2020 at 11:23 AM

      And there will be - the British at the same time as the Picts seem to have been using the same system. More to follow.

      Delete
    2. DarwinJanuary 18, 2020 at 2:12 PM

      I haven't remembered every item name for source, but the Engravings in Knowth in Ireland, show the same calendrical system as the grid tablet that was found in France, and that Echoes perfectly with classical sources telling how the Celts organized their calendars.
      What I find intriguing is that classical sources also say not the Celts, or The Druids possessed a very remarkable system of astronomy, and they were the best at it. And then there is all the work done on Star myths for the Celts, and that's hard to Discount because of all the numbers that are used, 12's, sevens, dogs, Salmon, threes, Rivers, white bulls, Brown bulls, swans, babies, beheadings, one eyed giants, etc. Fascinating

      Delete
    3. DarwinJanuary 18, 2020 at 2:13 PM

      There's a few typos in there i can't edit. Anyhow, thanks for the reply!

      Delete
  2. DarwinJanuary 18, 2020 at 2:15 PM

    Speak of the devil! I didn't see the new post. This is going to be excellent reading! Very very exciting stuff

    ReplyDelete

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