Scottish Islands Explorer - November-December 2016

different places where it is practised. In

Ancient Egypt, for example, mummification

was thought to aid the deceased to live well

in the aerlife, while the South American

Chinchorro culture seemed to have an

ancestor cult that involved taking mummies

with the living community to display at

major rituals.

ere is plenty of evidence for respect being

paid to the ancestors in prehistoric Britain, so

it is possible that such a practice formed part

of this tradition for the South Uist islanders.

It has been suggested that the male and female

mummies could perhaps have represented key

ancestors in the history of Cladh Hallan.

ese could have been powerful religious

figures or political leaders or that they may

have acted as evidence of the ownership of the

land by right of having lived there for so many

generations. Perhaps they could protect the

people still living, or intercede on their behalf

with the gods?

Apparently Venerated

is of course just leaves the third and final

big question: if these mummies had been

preserved above ground and apparently

venerated by the community for so long, why

were they then buried with roundhouses built

on top of the graves? ere is evidence of

ritual activity conducted in and around the

roundhouses for a considerable time aer

they were built.

Large amounts of smashed pottery and

more deliberately interred animal remains

suggest that some sort of spiritual practice

continued on site long aer the mummies

were buried. Does this, then, represent a

change in the local religion? e Callanish

stone circle on the nearby island of Lewis was

brought back into use around this time aer

centuries of apparent abandonment, which

some archaeologists point to as evidence of

such a change.

Another possibility is that there was some

sort of conquest or arrival of settlers - new

people who removed the old symbols of

power and erected buildings as a way of

stamping their authority on the local

landscape. Only time and more research will

tell if there is more to the story of the Cladh

Hallan mummies.

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2016 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER 23

Page 21 Top: View from the

south-west of South Uist.

Below: A sheep on a solitary

South Uist rock.

Opposite: A graveyard on the

island.

Images supplied by Fotosearch.

The Cladh Hallan Mummies

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