Skeleton discovered at 1,400-year-old Pictish Highland cemetery

Black Isle (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Eilean Dubh) is a peninsula within Ross and Cromarty (Ros agus Cromba), in the Scottish Highlands. Tarradale near Muir of Ord on the Black Isle is also now thought to be the location of one of the largest Pictish cemeteries in Scotland. The Picts were a Celtic society of farmers and hunters who lived in what is today eastern and northern Scotland during the late Iron Age and early Medieval periods. 

The Tarradale Through Time project has targetted a number of historical sites for further investigation, one of which is the Tarradale barrow cemetery.  It has turned out to be one of the largest recorded Pictish barrow cemeteries. Now archaeologists have discovered the partly-preserved remains of what is believed to be 1,400 year old Pictish skeleton during excavations on behalf of the North of Scotland Archaeological Society (NOSAS). This was found on the final day of the dig and was surprising given the acidic properties of the soil at the site. The discovery could reveal more about the individual interred within the grave and the ways in which the Picts buried their dead.

Image: Tarradale Through Time project website.