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• Isbister is one of the most dramatic Neolithic discoveries of the 20th Century. It's a chambered tomb, like Maes Howe, and was originally covered by an oval cairn - until it was excavated that is. When it was opened, human skulls were found in small cells off the main chamber, which was a mass of mixed-up, human bones - sometimes placed in heaps with skull placed on top.
  
  
• Tombs like Isbister weren't merely burial sites for dead individuals, they were important symbols of a tribe or community as a whole.
  
  
• It wasn't important to be an individual when somebody died in Neolithic Orkney. The bones of all ages and sexes were mixed up together until they were indistinguishable: it seems that there was some kind of equality in death.
  
  
• Ceremonies took place in the tomb - fires were lit, bones and other objects were burnt. Pottery and the bones of young animals were found, suggesting feasting in the tomb.
  
  
• Why Eagles?
  Neolithic communities in Orkney had a special affinity with certain animals: some with dogs, some with deer, or, like the community at Isbister, with white-tailed sea eagles. Many eagle bones and talons were found at Isbister - a totem of the people who lived there.
  
  
• What Story do the Bones Tell?
  Isbister was a very youthful community in modern terms. The average life expectancy was 20-25, with only 10% of the people found living beyond their twenties. Only a very few would live to be as old as 50, and their knowledge and experience must have been revered.
  
  
• In general the community were only an inch shorter than the average height of people today. Also, many adults had developed bad backs.

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