Updated

Updated · CNN · Jun 9

Study Finds Iron Age Scottish Woman's Brain Removed, 4 Bones Modified Before Burial

Updated

Updated · CNN · Jun 9

Study Finds Iron Age Scottish Woman's Brain Removed, 4 Bones Modified Before Burial

Q: What lost knowledge allowed Iron Age Scots to remove a brain without shattering the skull?

There is no evidence of some separately identified “lost knowledge.” What the study shows is that Iron Age people in northern Scotland likely had precise practical anatomical knowledge that let them remove the brain while keeping the skull largely intact. Researchers found two key signs on the woman’s remains: an intentional break at the base of the skull and straight, parallel cut marks on the inside of the cranium. Together, those marks suggest the brain was accessed from underneath rather than by smashing open the skullcap. Laura Castells Navarro said the base of the skull is the simplest route if the aim is to preserve the cranium. The cut marks appear to have been made with a sharp tool to detach tissues linking the brain to the skull. The targeted blow at the skull base then created an opening through which the brain could be scooped out soon after death. That combination points to a deliberate, skilled post-mortem procedure rather than crude damage. So the best answer is not that archaeologists have uncovered a forgotten surgical secret, but that they have identified a careful technique: controlled access through the skull base, plus precise internal cutting. The exact tools, training, and cultural transmission behind that skill remain unknown, but the evidence strongly indicates a sophisticated understanding of anatomy and funerary handling in Iron Age Scotland.

3 articles · Updated · CNN · Jun 9

Cuts inside the skull and an unusual fracture at its base indicate an Iron Age Scottish woman likely had her brain deliberately removed soon after death, according to a study in Antiquity.
Four long bones — a femur, two humeri and an ulna — were also reshaped before burial; researchers say the smooth, polished surfaces and sharpened ends do not match rodent gnawing.
Those altered bones were still returned to the grave in correct anatomical position, a detail the team says points more to reverence and anatomical knowledge than simple desecration.
The woman, likely over 30, was one of two people found beneath a cairn at Scotland's northern tip; DNA suggests she and a boy buried there may have been as close as maternal second cousins.
Radiocarbon dating places both deaths between 50 BC and 70 AD, and the researchers say the woman's treatment is unusually detailed but fits broader Iron Age practices of modifying and curating human remains.