A Scottish farmer found a Bronze Age burial site with two individuals, now housed in Edinburgh’s new museum center.

In 2022, a farmer on Scotland’s Isle of Bute rediscovered a Bronze Age burial cist, revealing the remains of a man and a young woman buried centuries apart, likely after 2250 BC. The site, previously disturbed in the 1800s when a skull was lost, showed both individuals had terrestrial diets. Their remains, along with grave goods, are now stored at Edinburgh’s new National Museums Collection Centre, part of the SAHRC project launched in autumn 2025. This facility, with 70% more space, houses remains from 600 sites across Scotland, spanning 8,000 years. Separately, archaeologists in Dumfries and Galloway uncovered a mass burial of at least eight people in five urns, dated to 1439–1287 BCE, possibly from a sudden crisis like famine or disease. The site, near ancient Neolithic pits, suggests long-term ancestral use of the land.