Iron Age Britons May Have Removed Brains of the Dead in Funerary Rituals

Discovery of Unusual Remains in Scotland

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that Iron Age Britons may have practiced brain removal as part of their funerary rituals. A re-examination of human remains found at Loch Borralie in northern Scotland has revealed peculiar scrape marks inside the skull of a woman who died between 50 BC and AD 70. The marks, along with sharpened limb bones, suggest a complex set of burial traditions that challenge previous understanding of Iron Age practices in Britain.

The remains were originally excavated in 2000 from a low stone cairn, where an adult woman and a teenage boy were interred. The woman's cranium shows striations that researchers believe were made intentionally with a sharp implement. Laura Castells Navarro at the University of York, UK, who led the study, stated that the scrape marks appear too regular and straight to have been caused by natural agents. "It is most likely that some kind of sharp implement was used to do it," she said, adding that the evenness and regularity of the marks strongly suggest deliberate manipulation.

Evidence of Brain Removal

The scrape marks inside the woman's skull are the key evidence for brain removal. According to Castells Navarro, the patterns are consistent with the use of a tool to extract the brain after death. While similar practices have been documented in other ancient cultures, this is one of the first indications of such a ritual in Iron Age Britain. Adelle Bricking at Museum Wales, who was not involved in the research, noted that if people were intentionally mummifying bodies in other ways, evisceration including brain removal would be a logical part of that process. "The evenness and the regularity of the marks is really interesting and does suggest manipulation," she said. "And why not brain removal? If they're intentionally mummifying people in other ways, then such evisceration is part of that."

However, not all experts are convinced. Richard Madgwick at Cardiff University, UK, expressed caution. "The marks certainly suggest some manipulation of the cranium, but whether we can link them to the brain removal, I don't know," he said. The debate highlights the challenges of interpreting ancient remains, where evidence can be ambiguous.

Bones Modified into Tools

In addition to the skull marks, the researchers found that some of the woman's long bones, including her femur, had been tapered towards the end as if whittled to a point. This modification suggests that the bones were repurposed into tools, possibly for daily use or for other ritual purposes. The combination of brain removal and bone tool-making points to a multifaceted approach to death and the body in Iron Age Scotland.

The practice of modifying bones into tools has been observed in other prehistoric contexts, but its association with brain removal in the same individual is rare. The researchers believe that the long bones were broken and then shaped, indicating a deliberate and skilled process. This finding adds another layer to our understanding of how Iron Age communities treated their dead.

Context of Iron Age Funerary Practices

Funerary practices in Iron Age Britain (approximately 800 BC to AD 43) are poorly understood because human remains from that period rarely survive. However, existing evidence shows that some people were buried alongside their maternal kin rather than spouses, suggesting a matrilineal social structure. Excavations at sites like Suddern Farm and Danebury in southern England have revealed that bodies were sometimes exhumed after burial, and in one case, a body was left exposed until the flesh decomposed before the skeleton was reburied.

The Loch Borralie discovery adds a new dimension to these practices. Brain removal may have been part of a broader tradition of preparing the body for the afterlife or for display. The use of bones as tools also suggests that the dead continued to play a role in the community even after death.

Implications and Future Research

The findings from Loch Borralie open up new questions about Iron Age beliefs and rituals. If brain removal was indeed practiced, it could indicate beliefs about the soul or the need to prevent the deceased from returning. Alternatively, it might have been a practical measure to aid in decomposition or mummification.

Further analysis of the remains, including DNA and isotopic studies, could provide more clues about the individuals' lives and deaths. The researchers also plan to examine other Iron Age burial sites for similar marks, which could help determine how widespread this practice was.

For now, the scrape marks and sharpened bones stand as tantalizing evidence of a mysterious tradition. As Castells Navarro concluded, "The scrapings look too regular and too straight to be made by any natural agent. It is most likely that some kind of sharp implement was used to do it." The discovery challenges us to rethink the complexity of Iron Age society and its relationship with death.

This article is based on reporting by New Scientist. Read the original article.