The modification of human bones into tools has a long history in human prehistory, and placing the Loch Borralie evidence within this longer history adds perspective on both the practice and its possible meanings.

In the Palaeolithic period, human bones were occasionally modified and used in ways consistent with tool production.

At sites associated with Neanderthal populations in Europe, there is evidence of both the use of human bones as raw material and the deliberate modification of human remains in ways that suggest an awareness of the different status of human versus animal bone.

The treatment of human remains in Neanderthal contexts — which includes examples of possible cannibalism, deliberate burial, and the use of human bone as raw material — has been a major focus of research in Neanderthal studies.