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Celtic burial practices, which included burying grave goods of food, weapons, and ornaments with the dead, suggest a belief in life after death. [35] A common factor in later mythologies from Christianized Celtic nations was the otherworld. [36] This was the realm of the fairy folk and other supernatural beings, who would entice humans into ...
[12] [13] Mortuary enclosures are usually sub-rectangular banks with external ditches and raised platforms of stone or wood within them, thought by J. G. Scott to be used for the exposure of corpses prior to burial elsewhere, although this interpretation is disputed. Remains of mortuary enclosures of this period are often found under long barrows.
However, numerous Mesolithic and Neolithic tombs, cairns, chambered cairns and burial mounds have been discovered and studied. The Bronze and Iron Ages may have pioneered the concept of a modern graveyard for their remains have been found grouped together in much the same manner as today. In addition to using traditional burial methods, they ...
The burial of an individual in the parish to which they belonged was considered mandatory. [96] The only individuals excluded from burial in the churchyard were unrepentant perjurers and those who had committed suicide yet were not deemed mad. [96] The enclosure of churchyards was a development of the tenth and eleventh centuries. [96]
Mortuary archaeology is the study of human remains in their archaeological context. This is a known sub-field of bioarchaeology, which is a field that focuses on gathering important information based on the skeleton of an individual. Bioarchaeology stems from the practice of human osteology which is the anatomical study of skeletal remains. [1]
Successive human cultures tended to be spread across Europe or further afield, but focusing on this particular geographical area sheds light on the origin of the widespread remains and monuments in Scotland, and on the background to the history of Scotland.
Sky burial is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop to decompose while exposed to the elements or to be eaten by scavenging animals, especially carrion birds. Ship burial is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as the tomb for the dead and the grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself.
This timeline of prehistoric Scotland is a chronologically ordered list of important archaeological sites in Scotland and of major events affecting Scotland's human inhabitants and culture during the prehistoric period. The period of prehistory prior to occupation by the genus Homo is part of the geology of Scotland.