Gold rings discovered in a sea cave once adorned a child who died during a strange ancient funeral ritual in Scotland.
We might expect to read such a headline in a Peruvian or Chinese archeology publication because mummies decorated with gold seem to be unearthed every week in these countries. But the Sculptor’s Cave is an archaeological site near Covesea in Moray, on the northeast coast of Scotland. Locally, this cave was the site of pagan rituals and child sacrifices and for hundreds of years it was considered a gate or gateway between the upper world and the underworld.
Sculpture Cave, Covesea, Lossiemouth (Ken Ross, CC BY SA 2.0)
Enter the underworld
In fact, the indigenous people of Scotland, the Picts, like contemporary cultures in South America and the East, associated caves with the underworld and the various spirits that came from and traveled into it. that after death. All this was confirmed during archaeological excavations in 1928, which showed that the cave was a sacred site of the Late Bronze Age and in continuous use until the early Middle Ages. “primarily for funerary and ceremonial purposes”. In 1929, archaeologist Sylvia Benton, who carried out the first detailed excavation, described the cave as a place “where the sun never reaches”. And it doesn’t either. This massive, dank, deathly silent cave-like church is equipped with a giant central pillar and a stone altar, both of which are never exposed to sunlight. In every way, it is the underworld.
The entrance to the Sculptor’s Cave leads to a creepy funerary chamber. Credit: University of Bradford/Sculptor’s Cave Publishing Project
A treasure
Professor Ian Armit and Dr Lindsey Büster from the University of Bradford’s School of Archeology and Forensic Science have been studying the Sculptor’s Cave since 2013. In a report in the Scotsman this week, Dr Büster described “very, very small but very beautiful” copper alloy rings. as being “very carefully wrapped in gold paper and possibly very precious items.”
This natural mausoleum is located at the foot of steep cliffs and is covered with figurative carvings. Archaeologists discovered crucibles, slag and ironware as well as Late Bronze Age pottery and bones, a swan neck clasp and bronze rings. Furthermore, there were “hundreds of children’s bones”. The Scottish Archaeological Research Agency admitted that “the true function of these objects is still not fully understood” but they were always found with the dead and most often they were forged from precious metals.
Excavations taking place at Coversea ‘Cave 2’, 2015. (Photo: Dr. Lindsey Büster)
Golden children
For nearly a century, archaeologists have found this unique coastal cave filled with the remains of children and Dr. Büster said, “it was found with nine other hair rings and placed Be careful in a very difficult to reach location, it seems to be a place. for rituals and votive offerings as well as burial practices for over 1,000 years.” The archaeologist said “the rings reflect the earliest activity at the cave” and that people came here from “across the north of Scotland and perhaps Ireland to leave their loved ones”.
Strangely, the rings were found with human skull fragments at the entrance to the cave and commenting on this unusual phenomenon, Dr. Büster said: “Some body parts were taken care of, point carefully and let it essentially decompose naturally.” Archaeologists claim that, “a series of children’s heads may have been displayed in this area with the bodies left to dry naturally”. Büster also finds it noteworthy that “given their intrinsic value and the fact that they were left in the cave to be recovered by today’s archaeologists, there was a taboo about entering this place and doing mind the dead placed there.”
Figurative carvings in the sculptor’s cave. (Aberdeenshire Council)
Digitize the darkness
Because the Sculptor’s Cave is only accessible at low tide, until recently they have been difficult to formally study but this changed in 2017 when archaeologists from the University of Bradford created created a digital model of the Sculptor’s Cave. It not only shows the layout of the massive cave but also highlights specific Pictish (early medieval) carved symbols. “Using modern scientific methods and advanced digital technology such as laser scanning and structured light scanning”, the digital model was created in collaboration with Bradford Visualization, also based based at the University of Bradford.
“The cave was also used as a place for complex funerary rituals and a place to store precious objects during the late Bronze/Iron Age,” Professor Armit said. And speaking further about the benefits of their new guided animation, he said they will showcase this darkly inaccessible archaeological site to the public, through “museum displays and online” dynamic. The animation is currently used by Elgin Museum in their exhibitions and on www.elginmuseum.org.uk. Additionally, a detailed monograph on the Sculptor’s Cave is currently being written by Professor Ian Armit and Dr. Lindsey Büster and will be published by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 2018.
Youtube screenshot of 3D Cave Sculpture animation ( Youtube Screenshot )
Hope for the future
Dr Rebecca Jones, Head of Archeology & World Heritage at Historic Environment Scotland said: “It’s fantastic to have such a detailed interactive model giving audiences the opportunity to explore the sites up close Pictish inscriptions”. In a report published on the website of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, they point out that “The Sculptor’s Cave has traditionally been considered separate” but any accurate interpretation of the cave is must take into account the collection of “human bones and artifacts” from other caves along here. The coastal strip “also contains man-made sediments”.
A Current Archeology report last month announced that this year would bring a fuller examination of the archeology of this ‘coastal landscape’, aiming to paint a broader picture of “ This Late Bronze Age coastal mortuary complex. One can discover that the bones in caves 2 and 3 are only those of adults, further making Sculptor’s Cave a dead zone for children only. What might be found in other caves along the sacred Moray coast this year, simply sparked my imagination.
