Monument record 1915 - RUBH' A' BHIOGAIR, BARVAS, LEWIS

NB35SW6 6 3463 5190

An inhumation was reported to the police on 10 February 1993, exposed by erosion in the vertical sand dune face on Rudh' a' Bhiogair, Barvas.
The skeleton was removed by Mr R Langhorne on 11 February after intial exploration revealed little of immediate interest. There was no evidence of settlement or occupation in the immediate vicinity.
The body lay on clean sand and was covered with a layer of dark sand and soil. The skeleton was not intact with a number of ribs, vertebrae, feet and toes missing. It appears to have been badly disarticulated when deposited, to the extent that the lower leg bones had been placed where the arms should have been though the hands and fingers were in the correct place, the arm bones had been located below the femurs.
The body was lying on a slope in an unusual position with the skull in a vertical position and the chest upright with the femurs contorted and the arm bones bent underneath these; what should have been the arms, but were extended upwards to the right above the head and the fingers spread.
This may have been a body washed on the beach and buried conveniently by hand. No artefacts were present. Local information reports a skull found a number of years ago in this general vicinity.
Information from Mr R langhorne (Western Isles Islands Council), 5 April 1993.

A human bone was noticed in the eroding section of a sand dune on the coast at Rubh? a? Bhiogair in May 1996. A small-scale rescue excavation was carried out to recover the remains, and the disarticulated lower half of a human skeleton, lacking the bones of the feet, was recovered. The bones were contained within what initially appeared to be a cut, but which subsequently proved to be an animal burrow. No associated artefacts were recovered.
Sponsor: Historic Scotland
E Stuart, 1996

E Stuart, 1996, Discovery and Excavation, Scotland, 104 (Bibliographic reference). SWE38143.