Identification of Avian Remains from Covesea Cave 2 on the Moray Firth Coast, Northeastern Scotland

Abstract

The Covesea Caves, located on the coast of the Moray Firth in northeastern Scotland, are a series of archaeological cave sites that are hypothesized to be part of a larger mortuary complex used during the Late Prehistoric period. Although much attention has been given to the unusual assemblage of human remains recovered from these sites, there has been less analysis undertaken on the vast amount of archaeofauna from the caves. This is in the process of being rectified through the recent work of the Covesea Cave Project, under direction of Ian Armit and Lindsey Büster and currently being undertaken at the University of Bradford. This report details attempts to confirm species identifications for several faunal bones of interest through various methodologies; unfortunately, not all of the attempts were successful. However, identifications are confirmed for two avian bones using comparative osteological analysis at the Avian Anatomical Collection at the Natural History Museum at Tring, United Kingdom. These species are placed in context through consideration of previous excavations at the Covesea Caves, as well as recent literature on ornithological analyses of ritual and funerary sites in Later Prehistoric Britain.