Lady Ann Campbell, the Countess of Moray, is noted in the early 18th century as maintaining the stone in an attempt to stabilise it.

Sueno's Stone is an upright cross-slab with typical Pictish-style interwoven knotwork on the edge panels.

It is carved from local yellow sandstone, prevalent in Moray but has suffered considerable weathering in places.

[16] The two side panels have sinuous vine patterns populated with men as depicted in the Book of Kells.

The traditional interpretation of the battle scene was that it shows a victory by Malcolm II (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) (reigned 1005–1034) against Danes or Norse led by one Sueno.

This appears in Alexander Gordon's Itinerarium Septentrionale of 1726 and is thought to have been ancient then, derived from folklore and the more learned histories of John of Fordun, Hector Boece and George Buchanan.

Anthony Jackson suggested that the stone displayed the final triumph of the Christian Gaels of Dál Riata over their (erroneously) heathen, Pictish enemies, in which case it would have been erected by Kenneth MacAlpin or his immediate successors.

As an alternative, Archie Duncan advances his theory that the stone records the defeat, death and reburial of Dubh mac Ailpin in 966.

It has been suggested that Sueno's Stone, near Forres, may be a monument to Dub, erected by his brother Kenneth II (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim).