This is not the simple separation of the useful from the symbolic, or the conversion of a person into raw material.

It is something more complex: the temporary instrumental use of a person’s physical substance within a framework that maintained the integrity of the relationship between the community and the specific dead person.

The recognition of this complexity is itself a contribution of the Loch Borralie analysis.

The discovery doesn’t just add a new case to the catalogue of unusual Iron Age burials; it demonstrates the depth of thought and intention that went into at least some Iron Age communities’ treatment of their dead, and it makes that thought and intention at least partially visible through the physical evidence that survives.

The Journey from Excavation to Understanding