MUIR OF ORD, SCOTLAND—The Scotsman reports that rare traces of skeletal remains have been found within the outline of a coffin in the acidic soil at a Pictish-era cemetery in the Scottish Highlands by a team of archaeologists led by Steven Birch of the North of Scotland Archaeological Society. The Tarradale cemetery was discovered when outlines of possible barrows were spotted in aerial photographs. This burial was situated within a large square enclosure at the site. Because the Picts were a matrilineal society, Birch and his team members think the skeleton may have belonged to a woman of high status. “I was able to identify the spinal column with individual vertebrae, and then moving up the body I uncovered the upper arms and shoulders, all of which were just black stains in the ground,” Birch said. He also discovered the person’s legs, feet, and skull, which had partly collapsed in on itself. Gordon Noble of the University of Aberdeen commented that the discovery of human remains could help scientists date the barrow and offer more information about Pictish burial practices. To read about mysterious carved stone balls dating to the third millennium B.C. found throughout the British Isles, go to "Spheres of Influence."
