Three roundhouses built over the cemetery around 1000 BC

October 10, 2026

United KingdomBioarchaeology

Source: Cladh Hallan: Living with the Dead in the Bronze Age Outer Hebrides by The Prehistory Guys

Site mentioned

📍 Cladh Hallan🗺️ More sites in United Kingdom 🌍 Show on the globe

Between roughly 1,080 and 1,020 BC, three roundhouses were raised straight over the earlier cemetery at Cladh Hallan — the builders buried the dead beneath the future floors instead of clearing the ground. The composite woman went under the northern house alongside a mummified man. A girl of 10–14 under the central house was the only burial showing no recombination. 🏠⚱️

Key facts

Around 1,080 to 1,020 BC a north-south row of three roundhouses was built directly over the earlier cemetery
Builders placed the dead beneath where the floors would be rather than clearing the plot first
The composite female skeleton was laid in the southern sector of the northern house
An adult male with signs of mummification was recovered from the same house, with his lower jaw replaced by another man's jaw
Both adult skeletons proved to be composites of parts from at least three other bodies
A crouched burial of a female aged 10-14 lay under the central house, and disarticulated remains of a child aged 18 months to 3 years lay under the southern house
Only the teenage burial under the central house showed no recombination, and her death coincided closely with the building work
Excavators suggested the north-west and southern quadrants were kept for ritual placement of the dead beneath the living floor