Pictish Beast

A comprehensive collection of depictions of the Pictish Beast was given by Stuart as Plate 22 in Sculptured Stones of Scotland Volume 2, 1867.

Suggestions have included a dolphin, an anteater, an elephant, a kelpie (or each uisge), and even the Loch Ness Monster.

[citation needed] Chanonry Point and the Sutors of Cromarty lie close to the Pictish monasteries at Portmahomack and Rosemarkie and are recognised as some of the best sites in Britain for viewing bottlenose dolphins from the land.

is that the Pictish Beast might be related to the design of dragonesque brooches, which are S-shaped pieces of jewellery, made from the mid-1st to the 2nd century CE, that depict double-headed animals with swirled snouts and distinctive ears.

for this is the presence on the Mortlach 2 stone of a symbol very similar to such a brooch, next to and in the same alignment as a Pictish Beast.