Fond of Puzzles? Here is a mighty medieval one from 800 AD…

1200 years ago Pictish artists carved intricate designs into a 7.5-foot-tall (2.3-meter-tall) slab of sandstone, perhaps to celebrate their conversion to Christianity. At the top they placed a series of very intricate and elaborate symbols, while the middle panel was decorated with an aristocratic hunting scene with – at the bottom – two large dogs and armed horsemen were depicted chasing a deer. The back of the stone was decorated with a cross. Unfortunately this was obliterated in 1676 and replaced with a inscription commemorating a local resident and his three wives

In 2001 the missing lower portion of the cross-slab was discovered. This bottom of the stone turned out to be decorated with yet more intricate carvings, which later inspired the Glenmorangie distilleries in their search for a logo as well as the ongoing Glenmorangie project. This part of the stone was recovered together with more than 3000 carved fragments was recovered by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD) turning it into a gigantic Pictish Puzzle.

Now an online game will challenge computer nerds to solve the archaeological puzzle: how to put together thousands of stone fragments to reconstruct the chiseled design on this 1,200-year-old Scottish monument.

With the cooperation of a local hospital the pieces were recently sent through an X-ray scanner to turn them into a virtual 3-D jigsaw puzzle. These pieces have now been grouped into categories — for example, corner pieces, or parts of the design’s knotwork.

This should help users organize the work into manageable subtasks, as if they were working collectively on a huge jigsaw puzzle. Suggested solutions to parts of the puzzle would be judged by fellow users, and then passed on to the professionals.

The final solution will eventually be turned into a virtual representation or a replica that shows what the Hilton of Cadboll Stone might have looked like centuries ago.

The Pictish Puzzle is part of the Glenmorangie Research Project, which is an archaeological research program at National Museums Scotland into early medieval Scotland. Some of the results of that research will be featured in an exhibition titled Creative Spirit opening at the Museum in Edinburgh on Oct. 25 to coincide with the launch of the online puzzle.

PictishPuzzle.co.uk will make its debut on Oct. 25, thanks to National Museums Scotland and the project’s digital designers.

Mhairi Maxwell, an archaeologist at the museum who holds the title of Glenmorangie research officer, said to the Scotsman that the Hilton of Cadboll Stone is a jigsaw puzzle that’s much larger than any one person. “If we can come together to re-fit the pieces, it will be a huge step forward in our understanding,” she said in a statement.

SOURCE:

Gamers take aim at ancient Pictish stone puzzle in the The Scotsman

Pictish Puzzle opens up for the Citizen Science project on the 25th of October 2013