The female individual’s brain was removed after her death, but her remains were carefully reassembled for her interment.
15 June 2026
The female individual’s brain was removed after her death, but her remains were carefully reassembled for her interment.
A human leg bone (far right) and three arm bones unearthed in modern-day Scotland show signs of having been worked to sharp points. Credit: Laura Castells Navarro
An individual buried some 2,000 years ago in what is now Scotland probably had her brain removed and some of her limb bones turned into tools after she died1.
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In Iron Age Scotland, People Removed the Brains of the Dead and Sharpened Their Bones
Did Iron Age Britons remove brains of the dead?
2,000-year-old skeleton in Scotland found with brain removed and bones carved into tools
Iron Age Britons likely removed corpse brains in strange ritual
Una mujer prehistórica, huesos como herramientas y un cráneo vacío: el ritual funerario que desconcertó a los arqueólogos en Escocia
Scientists found a 2,600-year-old brain inside an Iron Age skull and it was still intact
En el norte de Escocia se aficionaron a extraer el cerebro de los muertos y afilar los huesos de sus extremidades durante la Edad de Hierro
In 2008, archaeologists lifting a skull from a wet pit in York found something soft inside, and the Heslington brain preserved a life from Iron Age Britain
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Scrape marks inside a skull and sharpened limb bones in a set of remains found in Scotland may be evidence of unusual Iron Age…
A pair of skeletons offer rare insight into the ancient burial practices in Scotland's northern coast.
Archaeologists found apparent scrape marks inside a skull; long bones may have been sharpened into tools.
An Iron Age Scottish woman likely had her brains scooped out after she died as part of her burial, according to a new study that…
In the late 1990s, rabbits digging burrows in a remote corner of northern Scotland stumbled upon something extraordinary: a human…
Motivation behind the skull manipulation ‘very difficult to interpret’, scientists say
