This woman's brain was removed in the Iron Age. Why?

Why did our Iron Age ancestors smash skulls and sharpen bones? A forensic archaeological study shows these acts were respectful

Research published in the journal Antiquity shows that Iron Age people in Scotland removed the brains of their dead and turned human bones into tools, providing evidence of complex and unknown burial traditions thousands of years ago.

The findings were revealed after the bones were discovered at a lakeside site in northwest Scotland. They provide an interesting glimpse into not only how Iron Age people dealt with the dead, but also how people migrated to the region. One expert has called it "the fascinating story of a forensic archeologist" that could help change our understanding of Britain's Iron Age, roughly between 800 BC and AD 43.

The research was conducted on two skeletons, one of an adult female and the other of a young male, which were discovered in a rock cavity near Burali Lake. This area, with its sandy terrain and relatively few streams, perfectly preserves such bones, ensuring that they do not erode easily.

When lead researcher Laura Castells-Navarro of York University opened the box that housed the skeletons, she realized she was looking at something unusual. First, the skull on the woman's skeleton appears to have been deliberately fractured after death. And if that wasn't weird enough, when Castells-Navarro looked inside the front of the skull, there were clear markings—also apparently man-made. "These markings made no sense at all," he says. "They're too parallel, too sharp, too evenly spaced – it doesn't seem like a natural process.

After researchers ruled out other causes, such as rodents, there was only one conclusion: Long after the woman died, her skull was fractured and her brain was scratched. But that was not the whole story. Unusually, his long bones—humerus, ulna, and femur—appeared to taper to the ends. An osteological examination showed that this was done deliberately: the bones were likely sharpened very soon after his death.

But this was not done out of disrespect. In fact, perhaps the opposite.

"One of the theories that we've been really trying to counter when you find partial remains or do manipulated remains is that these people are the enemy, these are the unloved people, these are people outside the community," Castells-Navarro said. "Sometimes, the level of burial is such that they're basically just dumped in pits. But in this case, they were buried carefully, with great awareness and sensitivity. It's not an act of disrespect; it's an act of precision."

Such care, adds Castells-Navarro, indicates that the woman had a level of respect and esteem in her community.

A previous study in 2016, focusing on Danebury Hill Castle in Hampshire, found that Iron Age Britons had three distinct rituals for the dead. One is to bury the bodies and exhume them years later to remove the bones, perhaps as souvenirs. Another saw bodies buried in deep pits, then the body parts removed and placed elsewhere. And the third saw bodies exposed to the elements.

But the suggestion of respect rituals involving body manipulation, such as at Borali Lake, is new.

Another key finding at the site came from DNA and isotope analysis of the skeletons, which includes measurements of the prevalence of certain chemicals in the body.

The analysis concluded that the two were closely related – most likely maternal second cousins ​​– suggesting they traveled together. It also showed that they had grown up about 80km south-east of Loch Burraley, and were genetically related to people from Orkney, islands 175km north-east of the site, and Apple Cross, about 225km south-west.

All this paints a picture of a people who were not merely confined to their communities, but were highly mobile, fearless and carried their cultural traditions with them from afar.

Dr Melanie Giles, professor of European history at the University of Manchester, who was not involved in the research, said: "This research challenges the notion that everyone 'settled' in the Iron Age, and was born, raised and died in one place. "Whatever moved them, they must have been bold, and no doubt brought new stories and ideas with them, and clearly settled among local families."

Castells-Navarro says the discoveries are "absolutely amazing" because they shed light on people who were very similar to us, but whose ways and relationship with the dead were very different. "It kind of gives you a glimpse of something that's very close and yet very, very far away," he says.

"It's a wonderful story of forensic archaeology," says Giles. "It's a level of intimate detail about relationships and mobility that we're only just beginning to discover. It may shock us today, but these Iron Age death workers were the equivalent of our own funeral practitioners, attending to messy but necessary care for the body."

Rowland is a freelance journalist who previously worked as a writer and senior editor with BBC News and Apple News.