Journal of the North Atlantic
I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
35
Introduction
Severe coastal erosion during the late 1980s
exposed the remains of a small complex of Iron
Age buildings on Cnip beach, on the west coast of
Lewis in the Western Isles (NB 0980 3659; Fig. 1).
Subsequent rescue excavations revealed a series of
extraordinarily well-preserved drystone buildings
set into the sand dunes, dating from around the second
century BC to the mid-third century AD (Armit
2006). At the core of the complex was an original
pair of conjoined wheelhouses; one of which had
apparently remained unfinished (Fig. 2). Like
other wheelhouses,
the principal original
building at Cnip
(Structure 1) was
a drystone roundhouse
with an interior
space dominated
by a central hearth,
and a periphery divided
into a series of
equally sized bays.
The bays were separated
by substantial
stone piers which in
plan resemble the
spokes of a wheel.
It was also typical
in being sunk
into a natural sand
dune which would
have made the site
quite inconspicuous
within the coastal
machair landscape.
Indeed, when occupied,
Structure
1 would have been
visible only as a
low thatched roof
emerging from the
sand, but once inside
it would have
revealed itself as a
Death and Display in the North Atlantic: The Bronze and Iron Age
Human Remains from Cnip, Lewis, Outer Hebrides
Ian Armit1,* and Fiona Shapland2
Abstract - This paper revisits the series of disarticulated human remains discovered during the 1980s excavations of the
Cnip wheelhouse complex in Lewis. Four fragments of human bone, including two worked cranial fragments, were originally
dated to the 1st centuries BC/AD based on stratigraphic association. Osteoarchaeological reanalysis and AMS dating
now provide a broader cultural context for these remains and indicate that at least one adult cranium was brought to the site
more than a thousand years after the death of the individual to whom it had belonged.
Special Volume 9:35–44
2010 Hebridean Archaeology Forum
Journal of the North Atlantic
1Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK. 2Department of Archaeology, University of Reading,
Reading, UK. *Corresponding author - i.armit@bradford.ac.uk.
2015
Figure 1. Location map showing main sites discussed in the text.
Journal of the North Atlantic
36
I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
monumental and accomplished construction. In this
sense, wheelhouses perpetuated the domestic monumentality
of the broch towers and other Atlantic
roundhouses which characterized the earlier part of
the Iron Age in this region (Armit 2003)
The excavations at Cnip provided the opportunity
to dissect these Iron Age buildings in considerable
detail, and in doing so, a number of unusual objects
were found, including several deliberate deposits of
animal remains and four isolated pieces of human
bone. Aside from a single tibia fragment, the latter
were all fragments of human crania, suggesting a
special interest in the head. At the time when the
full publication of the site was being completed, the
human remains had become misplaced and, in the
absence of photographs or drawings, could only be
published on the basis of earlier verbal descriptions
(McSweeney 2006). Since re-appearing, however,
as well as being subject to osteological reanalysis,
two of the fragments have been re-dated as part of
a broader AMS dating program focused on wider
treatments of the human body in Iron Age Atlantic
Scotland (Tucker and Armit 2010), and a great deal
of comparative work has been carried out on the
wider context of mortuary practice in the region
(e.g., Armit and Ginn 2007, Tucker 2010). This work
has shown, inter alia, that the deposition of disarticulated
human remains was widespread on domestic
sites in Atlantic Scotland throughout the “long Iron
Age” (Fig. 3), from around 700 BC–AD 800. The
remains also have relevance to wider studies of the
social role of human body parts, and especially the
head, in prehistoric Europe (e.g., Armit 2012) and
beyond (e.g., Chacon and Dye 2007).
This paper revisits the Cnip fragments in the
light of recent work, to examine what more they
Figure 2. Simplified plan of the Cnip wheelhouse complex in its secondary phase of occupation (Phase 2). The distinctive
wheel-like plan of Structure 1 is still clearly visible. The perforated cranial fragment (HB03) was found in the entrance-way
to Structure 4 and the adult human frontal (HB01) was found in a shallow scoop under the floor of Structure 3.
Journal of the North Atlantic
I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
37
can tell us about treatments of the dead in Iron Age
Scotland. The descriptions of the bones themselves
and their contextual associations will be kept to a
minimum as full details are provided in the initial
report (Armit 2006, McSweeney 2006).
Heads in the Sand
Although the assemblage is small, especially
when compared with the many thousands of animal
bones recovered from the excavations at Cnip, each
cranial fragment tells a rather different story about
attitudes to the human body, and specifically the
head. In this section, each of the three human skull
fragments is discussed in turn before returning to a
broader consideration of attitudes to the dead and
their deposition in domestic spaces.
Curation and Display?
The first fragment is a sub-triangular piece of
adult human parietal (HB03) found within deposits
which had built up at the entrance to Structure 4,
an oval structure of fairly accomplished masonry
which formed one of two main foci of the settlement
in Phase 2, after the original wheelhouse had
become unstable. The fragment is around 7 cm long
with a single “hourglass” perforation, drilled from
both sides, and thus clearly manufactured after
the removal of the head from the corpse. A second
“attempted” drill-hole on the internal surface lies
very close to the first (Fig. 4). It is possible that
the fragment split during drilling (McSweeney
2006:136). The fragment is neatly broken, or perhaps
cut, along the line of the perforation. Rodent
gnaw marks are also visible on the posterior edge
of the exterior surface, suggesting that the fragment
(or indeed whole body) lay exposed for a period
shortly after death.
The two sigma range of cal. 20–180 AD for this
fragment (Table 1) accords with the 1st century AD
date suggested for these Phase 2 deposits in the
original report (Armit 2006:221). Given the dates
for Phase 3 (ca. AD 100–250), it is likely that the
Figure 3. Map showing the distribution of disarticulated human remains from domestic sites in Atlantic Scotland.
Journal of the North Atlantic
38
I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
true date of this fragment lies in the earlier half of
its range.
When initially reported, the only close parallel
for this worked human bone was a cranial fragment
from the entrance to the complex Atlantic roundhouse
of Hillhead in Caithness (Fig. 5a) which had
been drilled with three neat holes of similar size
to those on the Cnip fragment (Tress Barry 1902).
However, a recently obtained AMS date of cal.
310–440 AD shows that the individual from whom
this bone was obtained died long after the deposition
of the Cnip example. Within the last few years,
two other perforated crania have been recognized
(Shapland and Armit 2012, Tucker 2010). The first
is another human parietal with a single central
perforation from the rock-shelter at Fiskavaig, on
Skye (Birch 2009) (Fig. 5b), AMS dated to cal.
70–240 AD, and thus overlapping with the date
from Cnip (cal. 20–180 AD). The second is a fragment
of frontal bone, again with a single perforation,
found in association with Iron Age burials at Lower
Dounreay, Caithness (Cruden 1956), although it’s
precise context is unclear. In a further parallel with
the Cnip fragment, the internal surface of this bone
Figure 4. Parietal fragment from Cnip (HB03) A) ectocranial/ external view showing rodent gnaw marks B) endocranial/
internal view showing second partially drilled perforation (photographs © Fiona Shapland).
Table 1. AMS dates for the Cnip cranial fragments obtained during the 2009 dating program and from burials on Cnip Headland (dates
for the Cnip Headland burials are recalibrated based on information published in Dunwell et al. [1995:284] and Close-Brooks [1995:263],
using Oxcal v3.10 [Bronk Ramsey 2005, Reimer et al. 2004]).
Calibrated date at
Lab no. Δ13C‰ Date BP 1σ 2σ cal
Perforated cranial fragment (HB03) SUERC-24237 -20.5 1910 ± 30 65–130 AD 20–180 AD
Frontal bone buried in scoop (HB01) SUERC-24965 -18.2 3215 ± 30 1505–1440 BC 1540–1410 BC
Individual buried in short cist on Cnip Headland GU-3488 NA 3360 ± 50 1740–1530 BC 1770–1510 BC
Burnt material from cremation urn, Cnip Headland GU-1174 -26.5 3410 ± 55 1860–1620 BC 1890–1530 BC
Figure 5. Perforated cranial fragments from: A. Hillhead, Caithness (parietal bone), B. Fiskavaig, Skye (parietal bone), and
C. Lower Dounreay, Caithness (frontal bone) (photographs © Fiona Shapland).
Journal of the North Atlantic
I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
39
displays four other partly drilled “holes” forming a
neat pattern (Fig. 5c). In this case, it seems highly
improbable that these represent abortive attempts
at drilling through, and their purpose may be either
decorative or in some way related to the intended
purpose of the object. An AMS date of cal. 660–780
AD, however, shows that this individual died many
centuries after the burial of the Cnip fragment. Indeed
it’s two sigma range does not even overlap with
that of the Hillhead fragment. Finally, there may be
one further example from antiquarian excavations
at Burghead promontory fort, a major Pictish center
in Moray. Here a perforated cranial fragment was
apparently found along with other human bones
below the rampart (MacDonald 1862:358), and thus
probably dated to the early mid-first millennium AD.
However, the fragment is lost, and the identification
cannot be confirmed.
What we appear to have, therefore, is evidence
for an enduring practice involving the curation and
modification of the human head which persisted
throughout most of the first millennium AD in Atlantic
Scotland. Three of the four drilled fragments
so far discovered represent parietal bones, and one
a frontal bone. These areas of the cranium provide
the flattest and most even fragments for perforation;
interestingly, parietals and frontals were also the
human bones most commonly deposited on settlement
sites throughout the long Iron Age in Atlantic
Scotland (Tucker 2010:165). Aside from the basic
concept of perforating a cranial platelet, the similarities
in the size and shape of the drill-holes suggest
a fairly standardized approach to the procedure, and
the use of similar tools such as bone awls. The presence
of “attempted” drill-holes, though their purpose
is unknown, forms a further link between fragments
at either end of the chronological range. Despite
its long duration, however, it would appear that the
practice was either infrequently carried out, or else
that the modified bones very seldom found their way
into contexts where they can be archaeologically
recovered. Sites in this region commonly yield substantial
bone assemblages, yet only four perforated
platelets are definitely attested.
Given the difficulty in accessing the internal surfaces
of these skulls in order to produce the characteristically
neat drill-holes, it seems highly probable
that the platelets had already been detached from the
cranium prior to working. It also seems likely that
the bone would have been de-fleshed before drilling
began, as the working and display of fleshed cranial
fragments would have had obvious drawbacks.
However, it must have remained sufficiently fresh
not simply to shatter as completely dry bone has a
tendency to do upon drilling (although this may of
course have been precisely the fate of the Cnip example).
One possibility, therefore, is that these platelets
were taken from the skulls of individuals who
had been subject to excarnation, perhaps as part of
normative funerary rites (cf. Carr and Knüsel 1997).
The gnaw marks present on the Cnip example would
seem to be a useful piece of corroborating evidence
for this theory.
In this context, it is worth considering the recent
reanalysis of Iron Age human remains from
MacArthur Cave near Oban (Saville and Hallén
1994, Tucker 2010). A series of Early Iron Age human
remains from the cave dated by a series of AMS
dates to between cal. 765 and 60 BC (Saville and
Hallén 1994:721) appear to represent disarticulated
and comingled rather than formal inhumations, and
several display gnaw marks suggestive of purposeful
or accidental exposure of the corpse (Tucker 2010).
Of particular relevance here, however, is the recent
observation that a large section of bone appears to
have been deliberately removed from one Iron Age
cranium soon after death (Fig. 6). The size and shape
of the missing fragment is highly reminiscent of the
perforated platelets discussed above. Potentially,
therefore, the missing MacArthur Cave fragment
represents a “blank” taken from an excarnation site
for subsequent working and curation. Given the intact
nature of this cranium at the time the bone was
removed, and the relatively small number of individuals
who appear to have been deposited at MacArthur
Cave, it seems quite likely that the platelet was
taken from a known individual. Even if this is not the
case, the MacArthur Cave find may strengthen the
suggestion that these perforated platelets represent
some form of ancestral relic or memento, forming
a tangible link with the recently deceased, rather
than trophies taken from the heads of outsiders. This
interpretation is particularly interesting in view of
the clear evidence for violent human trophy taking
elsewhere in the Scottish Iron Age (e.g., Armit and
McKenzie 2013)
Parallels for this Atlantic Scottish group of perforated
crania have been found in other parts of Britain
and northern France during the first millennium
BC, and have usually been interpreted as amulets
(Cunnington 1923:plate 26, Whimster 1981:185),
displayed skulls (Parry 1930:36) or, as with those
found recently at Billingborough, as parts of drinking
vessels (Chowne et al. 2001:74–77). These latter
examples, however, are perforated near the edge
of the bone, rather than at its center, and we can
exclude this functional suggestion for the Atlantic
Scottish series. Further afield, skulls perforated
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I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
vidual. If we are right in believing that they derive
from secondary funerary rites, then the likelihood
must be that they played a role in acts of remembrance
associated either with deceased individuals
or with the generalized community of ancestors.
Tool Use or Trepanation?
The second piece of human bone from Cnip is a
roughly triangular cranial fragment (HB02) recovered
from behind the sand-revetted wall of Structure 8, a
rectilinear structure which formed the last domestic
building at Cnip (Phase 3) and which was probably
constructed sometime around the beginning of the
2nd century AD (Armit 2006:221). The bone comes
from an adult cranium, has a maximum length of
6.5 cm, and was probably part of the left parietal
(Fig. 7). Although the surviving portion bears no
with large iron nails have been found on a number
of Iron Age sites in southern France, where they are
generally interpreted as human trophies (e.g., Armit
2010, Mahieu 1998). In general, however, the Atlantic
Scottish group (other than the possible “blank”
from MacArthur Cave) are a relatively late phenomenon,
and remarkably consistent in their form and
manufacture.
The purpose of the perforated cranial fragments
remains unclear. The existence of the holes suggests
that they were either suspended for display,
or else sewn into garments or fabrics. The lack of
clear wear-patterning does not suggest any routine,
day-to-day usage. The occurrence of the Cnip and
Hillhead finds amid entrance deposits might suggest
suspension above the door-way. Given its funerary
context, the Dounreay fragment may have had a particular
link (perhaps genealogical) to a specific indi-
Figure 6. Iron Age cranium with missing platelet from MacArthur Cave near Oban (photograph © Fiona Shapland).
Journal of the North Atlantic
I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
41
various structures at Cnip during construction, and
it is possible that this fragment too was a deliberate
deposit. However, there was no specific evidence to
confirm this.
Back from the Dead
The final fragment found at Cnip comprised a
partial human cranium (HB01) deliberately placed in
a shallow scoop in the sand below Structure 3, a small
cell attached to the main wheelhouse (Fig. 8). It was
almost certainly intended as a foundation deposit for
the cell. Like the other fragments, it dates to Phase 2
of occupation, in the 1st century AD. The bones were
poorly preserved and consisted of a fragmented frontal
bone and a few surrounding cranial fragments from
an adult, possibly a male judging by the prominent
brow ridges (Bass 2000).
Placed alongside the skull were a number of
other objects, comprising two sherds of pottery, one
with a zigzag cordon, and a second cranial fragment,
which may be human but is more likely to derive
from an animal. The latter bone had gnaw-marks
suggesting that it had been left exposed and accessible
to carnivores when fresh. This rather heterogeneous
collection was accompanied by a smooth,
rounded stone, which seemed to echo the shape of
the skull itself, and which was quite unlike the usual
angular building stones found around the site. This
collection of objects was not the only special deposit
sign of perforation, one edge was artificially shaped,
having been deliberately bevelled externally and internally,
perhaps by scraping with an iron knife, into
a smooth convex shape. Along the exterior surface,
parallel to the bevelled edge, a series of shallow
scoops had been scraped into the bone, and these
seem originally to have extended beyond the broken
edges of the fragment. There are also numerous shallow
cut marks on the external surface such as might
be expected in a case of scalping. It seems possible,
then, that the head was deliberately defleshed before
a portion was detached and modified into some form
of scraping implement. An alternative possibility
is that the marks derive from an unsuccessful
trepanation (there is of course no sign of healing),
but the presence of both internal as well as external
bevelling of the cut edge would necessarily rule this
possibility out. The marks on the exterior surface
of this bone bear little resemblance to other known
Iron Age European trepanations, which were mostly
drilled rather than scraped (Roberts and McKinley
2005:63).
Since it was deposited during the construction of
the Structure 8 wall, the bone pre-dates the Phase 3
occupation, and the individual most likely died during
the preceding Phase 2 occupation (i.e., before
around AD 100). Although its context is a little later
than that of HB03 (above), the two belong to the
same broad period of activity on the site. Several deliberate
deposits had been placed behind the walls of
Figure 7. Worked cranial fragment (HB02) from Cnip: A. with scale bar, and B. closer view (photographs © Fiona Shapland).
Journal of the North Atlantic
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I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
associated with Structure 3. Under the slab threshold
of the cell, a second pit contained two sheep crania
and the butchered bones of one of the sheep accompanied
by a bone beater tip. The human skull was
thus part of a broader package of ritualized activity
associated with the construction and consecration of
this small building.
Given the degraded condition of the human
cranium, it was suspected that the skull had been
curated for some time prior to deposition. Nonetheless,
the resulting AMS determination was a considerable
surprise. This cranium belonged to someone
who had died during the Middle Bronze Age, around
1540–1410 BC; well over a millennium before occupation
on the wheelhouse site began. Curation of
a skull over this length of time (perhaps around 60
generations) seems inherently improbable, even in a
context where corpses and body parts were curated
and mummification may have been practiced (Parker
Pearson et al. 2005). Instead it seems more likely
than that this skull was retrieved from an earlier
grave, the most likely origin being a Middle Bronze
Age burial ground just a couple
of hundred meters away from
the wheelhouse complex, across
a low headland. Published burials
from the cemetery include an
individual inhumation in a short
cist dated to cal. 1770–1510 BC
(Dunwell et al. 1995:284), and
an inurned cremation dating
to cal. 1890–1530 BC (Close-
Brooks 1995:263).
During the last 40 years,
burials have eroded periodically
from the machair on Cnip Headland
(Dunwell et al. 1995), and
it is reasonable to think that a
similar episode of erosion may
very well have occurred during
the Iron Age. For Iron Age people,
accustomed to careful postmortem
treatments of their own
dead, the emergence of human
remains from the sands so close
to their own home would have
been a problematic occurrence
which would have demanded
some form of interpretation.
Explanations for the presence
of these ancient bones may have
invoked genealogical histories,
linking them to named ancestors,
or perhaps more likely
(since they would presumably
have been recognized as having
been buried in a quite alien
way to current practice) they
may have invoked more remote
mythological pasts (cf. Gosden
and Lock 1998). In either
case, for a community used to
handling and manipulating human
remains, the Bronze Age
skull would have been a heavily
charged object. We have no
Figure 8. Adult human frontal (HB01) from Cnip found with other placed objects in
a small scoop under Structure 3 (photograph © Ian Armit).
Journal of the North Atlantic
I. Armit and F. Shapland
2015 Special Volume 9
43
Armit, I., and V. Ginn. 2007. Beyond the grave: Human
remains from domestic contexts in Atlantic Scotland.
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 73:115–136.
Armit, I., and J.T. McKenzie. 2013. An Inherited Place:
Broxmouth Hillfort and the Southeast Scottish Iron
Age. Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh,
UK.
Bass, W. 2000. Human Osteology: A Laboratory and Field
Manual. Missouri Archaeological Society, Springfield,
MO, USA.
Birch, S. 2009. Latest Finds from the Fiskavaig Rock
Shelter Site (online). Available online at http://
www.high-pasture-cave.org/index.php/latest_finds/
comments/178/. Accessed 30 May 2011.
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2005. OxCal Program v3.10. Oxford
Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, Oxford, UK.
Carr, G., and C. Knüsel. 1997. The ritual framework of
excarnation by exposure as the mortuary practice of
the Early and Middle Iron Ages of central southern
Britain. Pp. 167–173, In A. Gwilt and C. Haselgrove
(Eds.). Reconstructing Iron Age Societies. Oxbow,
Oxford, UK.
Chacon, R.J., and D.H. Dye. 2007. Introduction to human
trophy taking: An ancient and widespread practice. Pp.
5–31, In R.J. Chacon and D.H. Dye (Eds.). The Taking
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Chowne, P., R. Cleal, A. Fitzpatrick, and P. Andrews.
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Close-Brooks, J. 1995, Excavation of a cairn at Cnip, Uig,
Isle of Lewis. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland 125:253–277.
Cruden, S. 1956. Lower Dounreay, Caithness. Discovery
and Excavation in Scotland 1956:35–36.
Cunnington, M.E. 1923. The Early Iron Age Inhabited
Site at All Cannings Cross Farm. Simpson and Co.,
Devizes, UK.
Dunwell, A., T. Neighbour, and T.G. Cowie. 1995, A cist
burial adjacent to the Bronze Age burial at Cnip, Uig,
Isle of Lewis. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland 125:279–288.
Gosden, C., and G. Lock. 1998, Prehistoric histories.
World Archaeology 30:2–12.
MacDonald, J. 1862. Historical notices of “the broch” or
Burghead, in Moray, with an account of its antiquities.
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
4:321–369.
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d’Archéologie Méridionale 21:62–65.
McSweeney, K. 2006. The human remains. Pp. 133–136,
In I. Armit (Ed.). Anatomy of an Iron Age Roundhouse:
The Cnip Wheelhouse Excavations, Lewis.
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK.
Parker Pearson, M., A.T. Chamberlain, M.J. Collins, O.E.
Craig, P. Marshall, J. Mulville, H. Smith, C. Chenery,
G. Cook, J. Craig, J. Evans, J. Hiller, J. Montgomery,
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way of knowing whether it remained in circulation
for many years prior to reburial, or whether it was
deposited as soon as possible to remove it from circulation.
Unless building works were fortuitously in
operation when the skull was discovered, however,
it is likely that it spent at least a few years above
ground in the wheelhouse.
Conclusion
The three cranial fragments from Cnip each provide
their own insights into treatments of the human
body in death during the Atlantic Scottish Iron Age.
Placed in their broader context, they provide dramatic
illustration of a social world where the dead returned
to the realm of the living and played an active role in
the life of the community. Special deposits marked
the key stages in the construction, modification, and
closure of domestic buildings. Where these special
deposits contained human remains, it seems likely
that they held particular power and represented moments
of unusually heightened tension or concern.
The two modified fragments from Cnip fit into a much
wider set of practices involving the deposition of disarticulated
skeletal elements. The Bronze Age skull,
however, is unique in its Iron Age context and appears
to show an Iron Age community facing up to a problematic
encounter with their own past.
Acknowledgments
Both the original excavations at Cnip and the recent
AMS dating program were funded by Historic Scotland,
and particular thanks are due to Patrick Ashmore, Rod Mc-
Cullagh, and Dr. Noel Fojut who helped at various stages
of the project. The authors would also like to thank Steve
Birch for allowing access to the perforated cranium from
his excavations at Fiskavaig, and Alison Sheridan from
the National Museums of Scotland for facilitating access
to and allowing dating of the Hillhead, Cnip, and Lower
Dounreay cranial fragments. Original illustrations were
prepared by Rachael Kershaw.
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