Page 15 Macbeath

 From:- The Orkneys in Early Celtic Times, Two Lectures, by James M. Macbeath, published by William Peace and Son, in 1892.


Page 15

It should be born in mind that in the burials of the second stone age - the neolithic or Surface stone age - the body was either placed in a contracted position, or in a sitting posture, or burnt, but very rarely extended to its full length: sometimes the knees were drawn up to the breast, and rare instances would seem to suggest that the bones had been broken, when the body could not otherwise be disposed of within the straitened dimensions which custom had prescribed for these primitive tombs.

The people of that age were probably warriors of the type prevailing for centuries, whose creed was that to die in bed was to die dishonored: thus was the warrior placed in his grave in a position enabling him readily to sprung up when the sound of the war-cry should summon him to join his comrades and renew the strife.


More about the migration of neolithic people to Orkney, in the Orkney Riddle 


#neolithic #prehistory #archaeology #Orkney #Scotland #Brodgar #skarabrae

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