Deliberately, systematically, and as part of what appears to have been a deliberate and complex sequence of actions performed on the body of the adult woman in the cairn after she died.

The evidence is specific and striking.

The base of her skull had been fractured in a way consistent with a deliberate blow or targeted action.

The inside surface of her skull — the endocranial surface, the surface that in life had pressed against the soft tissue of her brain — bore cut marks made by a sharp tool.

The researchers concluded that these marks, taken together with the skull fracture, were consistent with the deliberate removal of the brain from the head shortly after death.

Several of her long bones — bones from her arms and at least one from her leg — had been modified after her death.

The internal layers of these bones had been worked to produce sharp edges and pointed ends.

They had been, in the language of the study, whittled into tools.

And then, after this modification had been performed, the bones were placed back in the cairn in their correct anatomical positions — back where they belonged in the layout of a human body.

Whoever did this to her took the care to put her back together when they were done.

The immediate questions pile up before the answers can organize themselves.

Who was she?

Who were the people who did this to her, and what did they believe they were doing?

Was this care or something more disturbing?