The Spinningdale cist burial. Image: GUARD Archaeology Limited
Posted on 09/02/2013 8:32:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
When a prehistoric burial was accidentally discovered in September 2011 during the construction of a septic tank at Spinningdale in Sutherland... a stone cist, built within a substantial pit, containing the remains of a crouched inhumation of a middle-aged adult female (35-50 years) with signs of spinal joint disease.
A radiocarbon date of 2051-1911 BC and 2151-2018 BC was obtained from a bone and charcoal fragments respectively, placing the cist in the early Bronze Age period. A tripartite food vessel urn, of Early Bronze Age date, was placed to the west of her skull, but what made this burial a particularly extraordinary site was the discovery of sheepskin and wool recovered from under the skeletal remains.
...no other examples of potential sheepskin are known. Findings of hide or fur are few and far between in Britain but are often associated with ‘rich burials’ of adult inhumations.
...The form and development of this type of vessel is complex, due to their limited number and the overlapping and interchange of stylistic elements with Beakers and urns. The vessel found here seems to lie further along the Scottish east coast than those previously found to date. It contained carbonised material of nonbotanical origin, unidentified cremated bone and a fragment of a small ring. All these elements indicate belief in the afterlife and were placed there to assist the individual’s journey into the next world.
There seem to be a tentative geographical relationship of the cist and its contents with the Scottish east coast; represented by similar burial constructions and the eastern variation on the decoration of the vessel. The fact that the individual was facing towards the east, to the Dornoch Firth, which was perhaps used for communication and trade, emphasizes this perception.
(Excerpt) Read more at pasthorizonspr.com ...
The Spinningdale cist burial. Image: GUARD Archaeology Limited
http://www.guard-archaeology.co.uk/
Spinning the yarn: a cist at Keas Cottage, Spinningdale – pdf
http://www.archaeologyreportsonline.com/PDF/ARO5_Keas_Cottage.pdf
And back then, a college degree really meant something!
Are you saying that a molecule in my fingernail could be and entire universe?
"Fout thousand years of college down the drain!"
I wonder if Obama’s college transcripts were buried there with it.
Who can blame them? Sheepskin is pretty comfortable to rest on.
Could I buy some pot from you?
I won’t go schizo, will I?
“It’s a distinct possibility.”
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