The Neolithic site of the Knowe of Rowiegar chambered cairn, Orkney, was excavated in 1937 as part of a campaign that saw the excavation of various chamber cairns on the island of Rousay, Orkney (Davidson & Henshall, 1989). Osteological and isotope research undertaken in recent years has reignited interest in the site. The research presented here focuses on mortuary practices, principally through histotaphonomic analysis. Human remains at Rowiegar were characterised by disarticulation, disorder and fragmentation (Hutchison et al., Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 145, 41–86, 2015), as is commonly observed in Neolithic Orkney. In recent years, histological analysis has become more widely used in reconstructing mortuary treatment. This relies on the degree and nature of bacterial attack, often termed bioerosion, and other modifications to bone microstructure as a proxy for early post-mortem treatment. Histological analysis was undertaken on 13 of the 28 individuals from the Rowiegar site. The results presented diverse patterns of bioerosion in the bone microstructure suggesting different mortuary practices. Furthermore, these results suggest that remains were placed in the chambered cairn at different stages of decomposition, with some individuals buried immediately after death and others likely subject to a more complex, multi-stage mortuary rite. There remains uncertainty about the origins of bacterial bioerosion in bone, and future experimental work may necessitate interpretative revision. However, based on current understanding, the research provides a new perspective on mortuary practice at Rowiegar, evidencing diverse, and sometimes complex, pre-depositional mortuary practices.

Rowiegar新石器时代的石冢遗址，奥克尼，是在1937年作为在鲁赛岛，奥克尼岛上挖掘各种墓室石冢的运动的一部分被挖掘出来的（戴维森和亨歇尔，1989年）。近年来进行的骨学和同位素研究重新点燃了人们对该遗址的兴趣。这里介绍的研究侧重于太平间实践，主要是通过组织声学分析。Rowiegar 的人类遗骸以分离、无序和碎片化为特征（Hutchison et al.， Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland， 145， 41–86， 2015），这在新石器时代的奥克尼岛很常见。近年来，组织学分析在重建太平间治疗中的应用越来越广泛。这取决于细菌攻击的程度和性质，通常称为生物侵蚀，以及对骨骼微观结构的其他改变，作为早期死后治疗的代理。对来自 Rowiegar 站点的 28 个个体中的 13 个进行了组织学分析。结果在骨骼微观结构中呈现出不同的生物侵蚀模式，表明不同的太平间做法。此外，这些结果表明，遗体在不同的分解阶段被放置在有室的石堆中，一些人在死后立即被埋葬，而另一些人则可能经过更复杂的、多阶段的殡葬仪式。骨骼中细菌生物侵蚀的起源仍然存在不确定性，未来的实验工作可能需要进行解释性修订。然而，根据目前的理解，该研究为 Rowiegar 的太平间实践提供了新的视角，证明了多种多样的、有时是复杂的沉积前太平间实践。