Evidence for mummification in Bronze Age Britain

Mike Parker Pearson; Andrew Chamberlain; Oliver Craig; Peter Marshall; Jacqui Mulville; Helen Smith; Carolyn Chenery; Matthew Collins; Gordon Cook; Geoffrey Craig; Jane Evans; Jen Hiller; Janet Montgomery; Jean Luc Schwenninger; Gillian Taylor; Timothy Wess

doi:10.1017/S0003598X00114486

Evidence for mummification in Bronze Age Britain

Mike Parker Pearson^*, Andrew Chamberlain, Oliver Craig, Peter Marshall, Jacqui Mulville, Helen Smith, Carolyn Chenery, Matthew Collins, Gordon Cook, Geoffrey Craig, Jane Evans, Jen Hiller, Janet Montgomery, Jean Luc Schwenninger, Gillian Taylor, Timothy Wess

^*Corresponding author for this work

56 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Ancient Egyptians are thought to have been the only people in the Old World who were practising mummification in the Bronze Age (c. 2200-700 BC). But now a remarkable series of finds from a remote Scottish island indicates that Ancient Britons were performing similar, if less elaborate, practices of bodily preservation. Evidence of mummification is usually limited to a narrow range of arid or frozen environments which are conducive to soft tissue preservation. Mike Parker Pearson and his team show that a combination of microstructural, contextual and AMS ¹⁴ C analysis of bone allows the identification of mummification in more temperate and wetter climates where soft tissues and fabrics do not normally survive. Skeletons from Cladh Hallan on South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland were buried several hundred years after death, and the skeletons provide evidence of post mortem manipulation of body parts. Perhaps these practices were widespread in mainland Britain during the Bronze Age.

Original language	English
Journal	Antiquity
Volume	79
Issue number	305
Pages (from-to)	529-546
Number of pages	18
ISSN	0003-598X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00114486
Publication status	Published - Sept 2005

Keywords

Britain
Bronze Age
Burial practice
Mummification

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10.1017/S0003598X00114486

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title = "Evidence for mummification in Bronze Age Britain",

abstract = "Ancient Egyptians are thought to have been the only people in the Old World who were practising mummification in the Bronze Age (c. 2200-700 BC). But now a remarkable series of finds from a remote Scottish island indicates that Ancient Britons were performing similar, if less elaborate, practices of bodily preservation. Evidence of mummification is usually limited to a narrow range of arid or frozen environments which are conducive to soft tissue preservation. Mike Parker Pearson and his team show that a combination of microstructural, contextual and AMS 14 C analysis of bone allows the identification of mummification in more temperate and wetter climates where soft tissues and fabrics do not normally survive. Skeletons from Cladh Hallan on South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland were buried several hundred years after death, and the skeletons provide evidence of post mortem manipulation of body parts. Perhaps these practices were widespread in mainland Britain during the Bronze Age.",

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AU - Pearson, Mike Parker

AU - Chamberlain, Andrew

AU - Craig, Oliver

AU - Marshall, Peter

AU - Mulville, Jacqui

AU - Smith, Helen

AU - Chenery, Carolyn

AU - Collins, Matthew

AU - Cook, Gordon

AU - Craig, Geoffrey

AU - Evans, Jane

AU - Hiller, Jen

AU - Montgomery, Janet

AU - Schwenninger, Jean Luc

AU - Taylor, Gillian

AU - Wess, Timothy

PY - 2005/9

Y1 - 2005/9

N2 - Ancient Egyptians are thought to have been the only people in the Old World who were practising mummification in the Bronze Age (c. 2200-700 BC). But now a remarkable series of finds from a remote Scottish island indicates that Ancient Britons were performing similar, if less elaborate, practices of bodily preservation. Evidence of mummification is usually limited to a narrow range of arid or frozen environments which are conducive to soft tissue preservation. Mike Parker Pearson and his team show that a combination of microstructural, contextual and AMS 14 C analysis of bone allows the identification of mummification in more temperate and wetter climates where soft tissues and fabrics do not normally survive. Skeletons from Cladh Hallan on South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland were buried several hundred years after death, and the skeletons provide evidence of post mortem manipulation of body parts. Perhaps these practices were widespread in mainland Britain during the Bronze Age.

AB - Ancient Egyptians are thought to have been the only people in the Old World who were practising mummification in the Bronze Age (c. 2200-700 BC). But now a remarkable series of finds from a remote Scottish island indicates that Ancient Britons were performing similar, if less elaborate, practices of bodily preservation. Evidence of mummification is usually limited to a narrow range of arid or frozen environments which are conducive to soft tissue preservation. Mike Parker Pearson and his team show that a combination of microstructural, contextual and AMS 14 C analysis of bone allows the identification of mummification in more temperate and wetter climates where soft tissues and fabrics do not normally survive. Skeletons from Cladh Hallan on South Uist, Western Isles, Scotland were buried several hundred years after death, and the skeletons provide evidence of post mortem manipulation of body parts. Perhaps these practices were widespread in mainland Britain during the Bronze Age.

KW - Britain

KW - Bronze Age

KW - Burial practice

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EP - 546

JO - Antiquity

JF - Antiquity

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ER -

Evidence for mummification in Bronze Age Britain

Abstract

Keywords

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