Researchers examining the remains of an Iron Age woman in northern Scotland have found signs that her brain may have been intentionally removed more than 2,000 years ago.
The discovery, made at a burial cairn in Sutherland, also revealed long-distance family connections, suggesting prehistoric communities maintained social and cultural ties across wide areas of Scotland.
The findings were published in the journal Antiquity and come from an investigation of two individuals buried in a low stone cairn at Loch Borralie, near the northwestern tip of mainland Scotland. The burial contained the remains of an adult woman and a juvenile boy.
Understanding funerary traditions in Iron Age Britain has long been difficult because human remains rarely survive. Soil conditions often destroy bone over time. North-west Scotland is one of the few regions where environmental conditions have preserved skeletal remains, offering researchers a rare opportunity to study how ancient communities treated their dead.
Researchers from the United Kingdom and the United States examined the remains to determine who the individuals were, where they came from, and whether they were related to each other or other groups in the region.
“We knew that in the north-west of Scotland, including the Northern and Western Isles, the circulation and deposition of human remains were particularly prominent,” said lead author Dr. Laura Castells Navarro of the University of York.
To investigate the burial, researchers combined osteological analysis, isotope testing, and ancient DNA studies.
The most striking discovery involved the adult woman. Researchers found fine cut marks on the inside of her skull and identified unusual modifications to several long bones, including the upper arm, forearm, and thigh bones. The bones had been shaped so that their ends tapered into points.
According to the researchers, the evidence suggests the woman’s brain was intentionally removed after death, and some of her bones were deliberately carved before burial.
The purpose of these actions remains unclear. However, researchers believe the treatment may indicate that the woman held a special place within her community.
“The motivation behind the extensive manipulation of the skeletal remains of Individual 1 is very difficult to interpret,” Castells Navarro said. “However, the care with which she was reassembled and deposited in the cairn possibly suggests she commanded a level of reverence and respect by her community.”
The study also uncovered evidence of extensive mobility among Iron Age communities.
Isotope analysis indicated that both individuals likely spent their childhoods about 80 kilometers southeast of Loch Borralie. Ancient DNA revealed genetic links to people living in Orkney, roughly 175 kilometers northeast of the site, and Applecross, around 225 kilometers to the southwest.
Researchers also determined that the woman and the boy were closely related, most likely maternal second cousins.
The findings suggest that family groups moved regularly around Scotland’s northern coast and islands while maintaining relationships across considerable distances.
“More broadly, our research shows that prehistoric maritime communities periodically moved around the north coast and Northern Isles of Scotland, possibly in small groups,” Castells Navarro said. “This movement allowed for the spread and maintenance of cultural practices and traditions.”
Taken together, the evidence of possible brain removal, deliberate bone modification, and long-distance family connections points to a complex society linked by shared traditions and social networks.
While researchers cannot determine exactly why the woman’s remains were altered, the burial suggests that some Iron Age communities maintained ongoing relationships with the dead and practiced funerary rituals that extended far beyond simple burial.
The findings provide a rare glimpse into beliefs and customs that shaped life in prehistoric Scotland more than two millennia ago.
