Over two decades ago the known Roman cremations associated with forts led to the assumption that cremations were probably not part of the Iron Age native tradition. However, Iron Age cremation deposits and burials are now known from at least 5 sites across South East Scotland: Musselburgh, Inveresk (Kirby 2020), Eweford West, Pencraig Hill, Phantassie (Lelong and MacGregor 2007), and Knowes, Whitekirk (Haselgrove 2009).
Intriguingly, the cremation deposits are deposited in a variety of ways. Some are found in cists of various constructions, some in pits (with perhaps suggestions of organic containers), some isolated deposits not in pits, and others scattered amongst domestic waste. Armit and MacKenzie suggest that cremation survived as a regular funerary practice in the region throughout the pre-Roman Iron Age and was contemporary with traditions of inhumation (2014).
During the evaluation at Inveresk, a single cremation was recovered from an oval pit (Robertson 2010). The excavator suggested that it was probably deposited within an organic vessel which had not survived. Later work on the same site recovered seven groups of cremated deposits (none of which were deposited in a pit or a structure), a cremation pit (190), a cremation pyre (066) and a possible redeposited cremation burial (539) of probable Iron Age date. Samples of cremated bone from one of the seven cremated deposits returned radiocarbon dates of 170 BC to AD 50. The cremation pit deposit, associated with a 1st to 2nd century AD penannular iron brooch was radiocarbon dated to AD 0–210. The excavator suggests that the pit deposit is more likely to be Iron Age and not associated with the Antonine-period occupation of the Inveresk fort although the possibility of a Roman cremation cannot be ruled out (Kirby 2020). The cremation pyre consisted of a substantial spread of charcoal and cremated bone filling a pyre pit. Evidence of the wooden pyre construction were also recovered. The pyre was dated to 40 BC to AD 130. Again, it is unclear whether the pyre was Iron Age or Roman, with the recovery of an iron hobnail perhaps suggesting the latter.
Work on the A1 upgrade through East Lothian identified Iron Age cists dug into older funerary monuments at Eweford West (near Dunbar) and Pencraig Hill, close to Traprain Law. The Eweford West cist was made of substantial edge-set slabs and contained the cremated remains of at least two individuals (one dating to 760 to 390 BC). The Pencraig Hill cist was of different construction, comprising three courses of stone blocks and contained both cremated and unburnt remains, again from at least two individuals (one dating to 170 BC to AD 30).
Dispersed cremated bone fragments belonging to more than 60 individuals were also found scattered among domestic deposits at Phantassie, near East Linton; one fragment dated to 360 to 50 BC (Lelong and MacGregor 2007). At Phantassie, Lelong and McGregor suggested that the rite of cremation was tied in with the agricultural cycle, with cremated remains being dumped on the midden and subsequently spread on the fields (2007).
Cremated remains belonging to multiple individuals were recovered from a crudely built stone cist at the entrance to the Iron Age enclosure at Knowes; these returned dates of 420–200 BC and 750–390 BC (Haselgrove 2009). The cist was crude, made up of sub-rectangular blocks, boulders and smaller stones. Some of the stones were discoloured by burning and heat fractured perhaps indicating re-use of materials. The cist was capped with a cairn of more stones. Intriguingly, there is a suggestion that the cist was a closing deposit associated with the abandonment of the enclosure in the early centuries AD. This indicates that the human remains had been curated above ground for hundreds of years and were finally ‘decommissioned’ by burning and deposition in the cist centuries later (Armit and MacKenzie 2014).