NOSAS Talk: Michael Zambon on the Conan Stone
19 March 2026 19:30
NOSAS MAD night. Michael Zambon, who is undertaking an MRes with UHI will talk about his research on the Conan Stone - a Pictish cross-slab discovered near Conon Bridge in 2019.
We have a new venue for the season's meetings - St Ninian's Church Hall in Culduthel Road, Inverness. This link will allow Google Maps to get you there.
"Not all Early Medieval Carved Stones are Created Equal’: A further assessment of the Conan Stone, a Class II Pictish Cross-slab"
The discovery of the Easter Ross or Conan Stone by the North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NOSAS) near Dingwall, Ross and Cromarty in 2019 has been described by a leading early medieval art historian as ‘a uniquely significant western extension of the prestigious Pictish symbol-bearing relief sculpture of Easter Ross’ in the Scottish Highlands (Henderson 2019). Drawing on data from the Early Christian Monuments of Scotland (Anderson and Allen 1903) and other inventories of Pictish stones, a quantitative assessment of a sample of complete, near-complete and fragments of Class II cross-slabs in Scotland was conducted to compare the symbols, figural elements, beasts and ornamentation on the Conan Stone to those found on stones from other areas of Pictland. A goal of the project was to situate the Conan Stone within the development of this ‘transitional group’ of Early Medieval monuments and determine whether there are connections, both structural and stylistic, to stones from either North or South Pictland.
Further attention in this study was directed towards the often-overlooked and under-studied ornamentation that decorated the background of the cross-slab and infill of the cross. More importantly, the finding of this stone raises questions as to how new material culture can ‘reshuffle’ our current understandings of these monuments rather than simply placing them within established ‘conceptual’ boxes. Finally, using the framework of a ‘migration of ideas’ (Michelli 1993) the author advocates for a new perspective that views these monuments as ‘silent’ witnesses whose carved surface provides evidence about the movement of ideas that circulated during the Early Medieval period and influenced the development of this iconic art form in Scotland.
Further information at https://archaeologyorkney.com/2025/05/21/conan-stone-mres-2/. For more details on the stone and its discovery see our blog post - https://nosasblog.wordpress.com/2019/10/22/a-newly-discovered-pictish-stone-for-easter-ross/