Cat Stane

The Cat Stane, or Catstane, is an inscribed standing stone near Kirkliston, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, in Scotland.

It bears a fragmentary inscription dating to the fifth or sixth centuries and was part of a funerary complex consisting of the stone itself, a cairn and a series of cist burials.

The Cat Stane now lies within the perimeter of Edinburgh Airport, making it impossible for the general public to access it.

The inscription, carved in a rough Latin script appears to read:[1] This is interpreted by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) as representing: The earliest description of the Cat Stane was made by the Welsh scholar Edward Lhuyd in 1699 who described it as standing on a pavement of flat stones surrounding the remains of a low oval cairn.

RCAHMS interprets the Cat Stane as a Bronze Age site re-used for burials in the fifth or sixth centuries.