This marker is situated adjacent to the Maiden Stone and can be found on a minor road a mile west of the Chapel of Garioch in Aberdeenshire in north-east Scotland. Information on the history of the stone along with pictures and illustrations can be found on the sign. The text reads as follows:
'This stone was carved by the Picts more than 1,200 years ago, perhaps to mark a place for prayer for travellers on the road between Aberdeenshire and Moray.
The Picts who raised this monument were descendants of ancient Caledonian tribes who laid the foundation of the medieval Kingdom of the Scots. Along with Christian symbols, the bold motifs they skilfully carved into the granite had clear meanings to the people who made them. They may record an important individual's name or status, mark land ownership or display tribal allegiance.'
On the left-hand side is a drawing of a centaur.
'A centaur depicted in an 11th-century book. A similar lost manuscript may have been the model for the beast with the horse's body and human head on the Maiden Stone.'
There is an ariel photograph of the summit of the nearby Mither Tap of Bennachie.
'The Mither Tap, a spectacular Pictish hill fort, stands on Bennachie to your left. The Maiden Causeway, an ancient track, leads down towards another important Pictish residence, Maiden Castle.'
The main focus of the sign is a large coloured illustration showing both sides of the stone, with numbers picking out important points.
'STORIES IN STONE
1 Look for a figure that might be Jesus above the cross, standing between two sea monsters.
2 On the other side, close to the base, is a delicate inscription in ogham, an ancient form of writing.
DEATH AND THE MAIDEN
Many legends swirl about this monument. In one, the stone is a petrified maiden who rashly wagered with the Devil that she could bake bannocks faster than he could build a road to the Mither Tap.
3 Look for the mirror and comb symbol, supposedly a bread spade and loaf on the maiden's apron.
4 The notch where Satan grabbed the maiden's shoulder.'
At the top right is a picture of the Whitecleuch Chain.
'The same Pictish symbol carved large on the Maiden Stone also appears in miniature on the Whitecleuch Chain, found in Lanarkshire.
VISIT PICTLAND
Hints of lost Pictish language may survive in nearby place names:
Carden: the name comes from the Pictish word carden, meaning fortification.
Mains of Rothmaise: meaning the fort on the plain from the word for fort, roth, and for plain, maes.
SANCTUARY
The Maiden Stone is wrapped in insulating material and boxed over to protect it from winter weather.
Christian radicals may have defaced the cross in the 1640s when 'Idolatrous Monuments' were systematically destroyed.'