Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 147

This contribution describes the discovery and subsequent investigation of a cist in a rock-cut pit at Achavanich, Highland. Discovered and excavated in 1987, the cist was found to contain the tightly contracted skeletal remains of a young woman, accompanied by a Beaker, three flint artefacts and a cattle scapula. Initial post excavation work established a date for the skeleton together with details of her age and sex, and preliminary pollen analysis of sediments attaching to the Beaker was undertaken. The findings were never fully published and, upon the death of the excavator, Robert Gourlay, the documentary archive was left in the Highland Council Archaeology Unit. Fresh research in 2014–17, initiated and co-ordinated by the first-named author and funded by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland with assistance from National Museums Scotland, the Natural History Museum and Harvard Medical School, has produced a significant amount of new information on the individual and on some of the items with which she was buried. This new information includes two further radiocarbon dates, a more detailed osteological report, isotopic information pertaining to the place where she had been raised and to her diet, histological information on the decomposition of her body, and genetic information that sheds light on her ancestry, her hair, eye and skin colour and her intolerance of lactose. (This is the first time that an ancient DNA report has been published in the Proceedings.) Moreover, a facial reconstruction adds virtual flesh to her bones. The significance of this discovery within the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age of this part of Scotland is discussed, along with the many and innovative ways in which information on this individual, dubbed ‘Ava’, has been disseminated around the world.

Title:	Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 147
Series:	Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Volume:	147
Publication Type:	Journal
Year of Publication:	2017
Source:	ADS Archive (ADS Archive)
Created Date:	28 Nov 2018

Article Title	Author / Editor	Page Start/End
Obituary: Jenny Wormald	Anna Groundwater	1 - 7
Obituary: John Dunbar	Geoffrey Stell	9 - 16
Littleferry, Sutherland: an earlier prehistoric coastal site in context	Richard Bradley Aaron Watson Ronnie Scott Annette Jack	17 - 28
A prehistoric cremation burial at Duns Law Farm, near Duns, Scottish Borders	Sue Anderson	29 - 47
Kisimul, Isle of Barra. Part 2: Archaeology and prehistoric occupatoin	Julie Franklin	49 - 72
'Ava': a Beaker-associated woman from a cist at Achavanich, Highland, and the story of her (re-)discovery and subsequent study	Maya Hoole Alison Sheridan Angela Boyle Tom Booth Selina Brace Yoan Diekmann IÃ±igo Olalde Mark G Thomas Ian Barnes Jane A Evans Carolyn Chenery Hilary Sloane Hew Morrison Sheena Fraser Scott Timpany Derek Hamilton	73 - 118
Another Pictish cross-of-arcs: an old find from Shetland re-interpreted	Anna Ritchie	119 - 126
The earliest portrait of St Columba: Cod Sang 555, p 166	Jane Geddes	127 - 145
A new chronology for crannogs in north-east Scotland	Michael Stratigos Gordon Noble	147 - 173
The artistic patronage of John Stuart, Duke of Albany, 1520–30: Vic-le-Comte, the last Sainte-Chapelle	Bryony Coombs	175 - 217
Scottish Lettering of the 16th century	Aidan Harrison Charles J Burnett	219 - 241
The aquatic context of Caisteal Ormacleit, South Uist, Outer Hebrides: Lady Penelope’s chateau and its canals	Stewart Angus	243 - 259
Hebridean Gaels and the sea in the early 19th century: ‘the streaming ocean of the roadways’	Kevin J Grant	261 - 284
Ossianic gold: an enhanced object biography of a Viking Age or Late Norse finger-ring from the Isle of Jura in the collection of Glasgow Museums	Katinka Dalglish James A Graham-Campbell	285 - 301
Stevenson at Vulcano in the late 19th century: a Scottish mining venture in southern Europe	Effie Photos-Jones B W Barrett G Christidis	303 - 323

Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 147

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