Cladh Hallan ( gd, Cladh Hàlainn, ) is an archaeological site on the island of South Uist in the

Outer Hebrides The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

in Scotland. It is significant as the only place in Great Britain where

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

mummies have been found. Excavations were carried out there between 1988 and 2002, indicating the site was occupied from 2000 BC. Cladh-Hallan Man

In 2001, a team of

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

s found four

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

s at the site, one of them a male who had died c. 1600 BC, and another a female who had died c. 1300 BC. (about the same time as King Tutankhamun of Egypt). At first the researchers did not realise they were dealing with mummies, since the soft tissue had decomposed and the skeletons had been buried. But tests revealed that both bodies had not been buried until about 1120 BC, and that the bodies had been preserved shortly after death in a peat

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...

for 6 to 18 months. The preserved bodies were then apparently retrieved from the bog and set up inside a dwelling, presumably having religious significance. Archaeologists do not know why the bodies were buried centuries later. The Cladh Hallan skeletons differ from most bog bodies in two respects: unlike most bog bodies, they appear to have been put in the bog for the express purpose of preservation (whereas most bog bodies were simply interred in the bog), and unlike most bog bodies, their soft tissue was no longer preserved at the time of discovery.

Analysis

The skeletons and other finds are being analysed in laboratories in Scotland, England and Wales. Following the provisions of the Treasure Trove Act, all the finds from Cladh Hallan, including the skeletons, will be allocated to a

Scottish museum This list of museums in Scotland contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organisations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, scienti ...

after the lengthy process of analysis and reporting is completed. According to recent anthropological and DNA-analysis the skeletons of a female and a male were compiled from body parts of at least 6 different human individuals.

References

External links

*
South Uist, Cladh Hallan Roundhouses
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland {{coord, 57.17116, N, 7.40759, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(NF733219), display=title 2001 archaeological discoveries 2001 in science 2001 in Scotland 2nd-millennium BC architecture in Scotland Archaeological sites in the Outer Hebrides Archaeology of death Bog bodies Bronze Age Scotland South Uist Unsolved deaths

Analysis

See also

References

Further reading

External links