Europe’s oldest mummies discovered

EUROPE’S oldest mummies have been discovered on an ancient settlement on a remote Sottish island, archaeologists revealed yesterday.

Four human skeletons dating back as far as 3,500 years were found buried at a sand quarry in South Uist, in the Outer Hebridean Western Isles.

The find by University of Sheffield researchers could dramatically alter our understanding of the way Bronze Age society treated its dead.

The Cladh Hallan quarry was one of two quarries on the island where archaeologists had uncovered the remains of Bronze Age settlements.

Found buried under the archaeological remains of three living huts was a girl, aged three, a teenage girl, and a middle-aged man and woman.

Mike Parker-Pearson, an expert in ancient burial practices, said the find challenged the belief that mummification had been practised only in Egypt and South America during this time.

He said: “We are talking about artificial preservation of the soft tissue after death. It is something that is

deliberate. The flesh after a certain space of time will rot away from even a preserved body.

“We didn’t dig them up, then say ‘ah, mummies!’, but we thought there was something strange. They were very tightly crunched up and had to have been bound for some time.”

Although no flesh was found on the skeletons, the position of the bodies and the condition of the bones puzzled scientists.

The bodies were found hunched over as if they had been tightly wrapped, their knees huddled underneath their chins, the man’s hands were clenched and his back broken so he was nearly doubled over.

Central to the find was the realisation the man’s skeleton was actually the body, head and jawbone of three different people.

Dr Parker-Pearson said the reasons for creating the “Frankenstein’s monster” composed of different people were unclear but showed the remains must have been preserved for some time before being buried.

It is believed the bodies were eventually buried at around 1000BC when the huts were constructed,

although only the man and woman were thought to have been mummified.

Although a known archaeological site since 1996, it was only 18 months ago that the remains were found and not until recently scientists could establish they had been mummified.

The bodies could have been preserved by dipping them in peat bogs for a short time, which would have “tanned” or toughened the skin and muscles.

It was also likely that their dead would have had their stomach and gut, home to most of the body’s bacteria, removed to ensure preservation.

Dr Parker-Pearson said the complex burial practice showed the transition from a period where the deceased were treated as anonymous and buried together to an age where dead people were seen as individuals.

He said: “These would have been figures of moral, cultural and political importance.

“In other regions where mummification has been practiced, the mummies were expected to be brought outside on public occasions and possibly even consulted on decisions.

“They are history personified and it is really quite an extraordinary find.”

Details of the discovery are due to be discussed today on the BBC2 documentary, Meet the Ancestors.