Summary

Human bones from an excavation of a long cist at Innerwick, East Lothian

Accession Number

X.1998.104

Other references

None

Original description

Human bones from an excavation of a long cist at Innerwick, East Lothian. ORF: IDENTIFICATION - Object Name: Human bones from excavation of a long cist at Innerwick, East Lothian. Description: The skeletal remains were poorly preserved and incomplete. The surviving remains comprised part of the cranium and several teeth, the left arm, scapula and collar bone, the lower part of the right arm (displaced), the lumbar vertebrae and sacrum, and several smaller bones. The lower limbs were missing. The bones were identified as those of a slender young adult female (between 17 and 25 years old). A central Schmorl's node on the superior surface of the first lumbar vertebra may indicate local heavy stress, possibly in lifting. No evidence of dental caries or enamel hypoplasia (the latter indicating systemic illness or malnutrition) was noted. The cause of death could not be determined. A bone sample yielded a radiocarbon determination (GU-4067) of 440 +/- 70 ad, which may be calibrated to between 440 and 623 AD. The orientation of the cist and the absence of grave goods suggest an Early Christian date for this cist, which was apparently isolated (after Rees and Finlayson 1997). PRODUCTION AND DATING - Date / Period: Early Historic. FIELD COLLECTION - Place: Innerwick, Innerwick, East Lothian. Grid Reference: NT 7217 7502. Site Type: Long cist. NMRS Number: NT77NW 59. NOTES and DOCUMENTATION - Bibliographic Reference: Rees, A R and Finlayson, W L ‘A long-cist burial at Innerwick, near Dunbar, East Lothian', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 127, 2, 1997, 601-607. Registered / Completed By: Trevor Cowie. Date: 2005.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Innerwick, East Lothian, Scotland, Northern Europe

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1998

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Historic Scotland, Finds Disposal Panel

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Donor

Image

None