Swedish laser technology helps us to read the runes
● 3D models of islands’ runic stones may show how writing spread
Pictish runes have been laser scanned as part of a pioneering project to establish the extent to which writing was a power tool in medieval Britain.
A team of Swedish scientists has been performing a new technique on carved stones from Orkney and Shetland which was developed to analyse runestones in Sweden.
It is the first time the technology has been used in Scotland and it will now help to produce 3D models of the monuments, with hopes it could provide more information about relationships with Gaels and Norse peoples.
Adrian Maldonado, of National Museums Scotland, said: “Nothing like this has been attempted in Scotland.
“Runes are generally studied by those interested in the Viking Age, but we know that ogham was used before and during the period of Scandinavian settlements in Scotland.
“Th epic tish symbols, a related form of inscribed communication, have rarely been studied alongside these other forms of writing.
“The answers might help us answer long-standing questions about the interactions between Picts, Gaels and Norse.”
The Picts were a confederation of peoples who lived in eastern and northern Scotland.
They spoke in Celtic language and lasted throughout the late Iron Age through to the early medieval periods.
Laser-scanning may help to reveal specific methods of runic carving and even different sculptors according to small details of technique.
This technology has never been applied to Pictish or ogham inscriptions and it is hoped it will contribute valuable new information for dating.
It is also hoped to show if carvings across writing systems and languages correspond to different sculptors.
The project, led by National Museums Scotland and the University of the Highlands and Islands, will focus on the Brough of Birsay, Orkney, and Cunningsburgh in Shetland.
These were important early medieval power centres and seem to have expressed this through monumental inscriptions in stone.
They are the only two sites in Europe with evidence for the use of runes, ogham and Pictish symbols.