A woman who lived around 2,000 years ago may have had her brain deliberately removed after death. Credit: Harvard Medical School.
A remarkable archaeological discovery in northern Scotland is offering new insight into the mysterious funeral practices of Iron Age Britain. Researchers have found evidence suggesting that a woman who lived around 2,000 years ago may have had her brain deliberately removed after death before being buried, a practice never previously documented in Iron Age Britain.
The findings were published in the academic journal Antiquity and stem from a detailed analysis of human remains discovered at Loch Borralie in Sutherland, near Scotland’s northwestern coast.
The burial site contained the remains of two individuals: An adult woman believed to have been over 30 years old and a teenage boy who was likely a close relative. Researchers used a combination of skeletal examination, isotope analysis, and ancient DNA testing to better understand their lives and relationship.
A woman from 2,000 years ago may have had her brain removed after death
What caught archaeologists’ attention was a series of parallel cut marks found on the inside of the woman’s skull. According to the research team, the marks were likely made with a sharp tool shortly after death and strongly suggest that her brain was intentionally removed.
The woman also showed signs of unusual modifications to several long bones, including the arms and legs, which had been carefully shaped into sharp points. Researchers believe these bones may have been used as tools before being placed back into the grave.
Laura Castells Navarro of the University of York, the study’s lead author, described the discovery as both surprising and significant. She noted that while Iron Age communities in Britain are known to have treated human remains in complex ways, evidence of deliberate brain removal had never been identified before in the archaeological record of the region.
The exact purpose of the procedure remains unclear. Researchers caution against drawing firm conclusions because no written records from the period exist to explain such rituals. However, several possibilities are being considered. The brain may have been removed as part of a funerary ceremony, an attempt to preserve the skull, or a ritual associated with ancestor veneration.
No cannibalism detected
Some experts have even suggested that the practice could have been linked to cannibalistic traditions, although there is currently no direct evidence supporting that theory.
The DNA analysis also revealed that the woman and the younger male were closely related, most likely maternal second cousins. This finding is helping archaeologists reconstruct family connections within Iron Age communities and better understand social structures in prehistoric Scotland.
The discovery is especially important because human remains from Iron Age Britain rarely survive in good condition. The unique environmental conditions of northwestern Scotland helped preserve the bones, allowing scientists to study burial customs in unprecedented detail.
As archaeologists continue to investigate the site, the burial at Loch Borralie is providing a rare glimpse into the beliefs, rituals, and social relationships of a society that existed two millennia ago. While many questions remain unanswered, the evidence suggests that Iron Age communities practiced far more complex funeral traditions than previously understood.