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| National Museum - Scotland, Edinburgh |
"Human remains were sometimes used for ritual, magical purposes.
Around 2000 years ago, in the Western Isles, the partly decayed body of a youth age about 12 was cut into quarters and deposited in four pits along with the butchered remains of two young cattle and two sheep. The pits were found beneath a house.
It may be that he had drowned, and when his decaying remains were found, rituals were performed to lay him -- and perhaps his ghost -- to rest. Or he may have been the victim of a sacrifice. Placing the dismembered animal carcasses in the pits was part of these rituals.
The house may have been built above the pits because this place was now seen as a place of good luck."
