5.6.1 Funerary Practices

A variety of Neolithic funerary practices, both monumental and non-monumental, are attested for the Highland Region, some of which have only recently been recognised. The radiocarbon dating of some human remains (Table 5.4) has significantly improved the understanding of the chronology of funerary practices, but many more dates are required. This will entail the excavation of monuments, along with the dating of more of the extant human and animal remains, including those from the passage tomb with a short-horned cairn at Cairn of Get (MHG2210), recently rediscovered in the National Museums Scotland collections. Similarly, while the recent (Brace et al 2019) and current DNA analysis of nine individuals from the Loch Calder cairns (MHG932; MHG981: MHG5316), from Embo (MHG11630) and from Balintore cist (MHG 6341; Sheridan et al 2018), and of possibly as many as 13 individuals from the Strathglebe chamber tomb (MHG5316), is furnishing invaluable information on the genetic ancestry of the people buried in the Highland Region, there is scope for further DNA analysis to be undertaken. Much more isotopic analysis could also usefully be undertaken, as it offers the opportunity to examine patterns of lifetime mobility.

Other insights into how the dead were treated come from osteological research. The recent re-examination of the human remains from the Loch Calder passage tombs by Kelsey Yohe of the University of Aberdeen (2019) has revealed two cut marks on bones from Tulloch of Assery A and B; in the first case, the cut mark is thought to relate to defleshing or dismemberment of the body, while in the second, inter-personal combat is suspected. Bodies appear to have been deposited in chamber tombs as complete corpses, then as they decayed, their remains became commingled with those of other individuals. An earlier osteological study of the unburnt human remains from the three Loch Calder passage tombs by Archibald Young concluded that the body of one of the individuals buried at Tulloch of Assery A, a probable male adult, had been so tightly contracted when placed in the monument that the remains may well have been bound, and the leg muscles may have been cut (Young 1966, 62).

A recent publication (Sheridan and Schulting 2020) provides an overview of Neolithic funerary practices for the whole of Neolithic Scotland, situating the evidence from the Highland Region within its broader context. Meanwhile, the corpora of chambered cairns in Highland Region, and elsewhere in Scotland, created by Audrey Henshall and colleagues (Henshall 1963; 1972; Davidson and Henshall 1991; Henshall and Ritchie 1995; 2001) provide by far the best source of information about the form, distribution and contents of these monuments.

The chambered and possibly unchambered mounds of definite and suspected Neolithic date are listed in Datasheet 5.5 and plotted in Map 5.5 below.

Click on the data point for more information about the find and a link to the HER record. This map is based on the information in Datasheet 5.5 (please note that some finds in this datasheet may be missing from the map, for example where there are no co-ordinates for antiquarian finds, so please view the datasheet for the further information).

The evidence will be reviewed in three chronological blocks corresponding to the Early, Middle and Late Neolithic periods.

5.6.1.1 Early Neolithic

5.6.1.2 Middle Neolithic

5.6.1.3 Late Neolithic