Ancient Origins
Human remains discovered 138 years ago in Stirling, Scotland, have been identified as belonging to a Bronze Age farmer who worked the land more than four millennia ago. This makes the man officially the earliest known resident of the ancient capital of Scotland.
Radiocarbon Testing Establishes “Torbrex Tam” as Earliest Resident
The remains of the young man were discovered back in 1879, when workmen were digging for gravel hit the slabs of a stone-lined cist as Daily Record reports . The human skeleton was buried inside a chambered cairn – a burial monument usually constructed during the Neolithic – on land belonging to a market garden, in 1872. The remains were given to the Smith Museum in Stirling for safekeeping, while the burial monument, which is the oldest structure in Stirling, is now surrounded by houses in Coney Park. The farmer, who died in his twenties, was nicknamed “Torbrex Tam” after the area of Torbrex in Stirling.
Example of a cairn burial monument in Scotland ( CC by SA )
Radiocarbon dating results have now officially verified that the young farmer’s remains date back to the Bronze Age, when Torbrex was a tiny community surrounded by water. Stirling archaeologist Murray Cook told Daily Record , “Torbrex Tam died around 2152 to 2021 BC. He is more than 4000 years old. He’s the oldest individual from Stirling.”
Reconstruction of Tam’s Face Reveals Strong Resemblance to Modern Residents
While researchers were trying to accurately date Tam’s remains, a team of forensic scientists started reconstructing his face based on his skull. “His facial reconstruction is Stirling’s first recorded face. For anyone from Stirling, Tam is their oldest ancestor. I’m sure I’ve seen his face in people around the town,” Dr. Cook tells Daily Record .
Dr. Cook also added that for the past six months he has collaborated with Michael McGinnes of Stirling’s Smith Art Gallery and Museum, as well as with Dundee University forensic art and facial identification graduate Emily McCulloch from Stirling, who was the expert that carried out the work on Tam’s facial reconstruction.
Torbrex Tam; facial reconstruction carried out by Emily McCulloch.
It seems that forensic scientists from the University of Dundee have been doing an excellent job lately. As we recently reported in another article , elite forensic scientists from the University of Dundee, digitally reconstructed the face of one of Scotland's most notorious “witches”, Lilias Adie. The only documents that helped them with their demanding scientific work, were a few photographs of her skull. According to Dr. Christopher Rynn, who directed that reconstruction work, the process was a step-by-step anatomical interpretation: sculpting musculature and estimating features (eyes, nose, mouth, ears) individually from the skull.
Second Excavation at the Site Uncovered More Human Remains A second excavation of the burial monument conducted by Stirling Archaeological Society back in the early 1970s, unearthed another cist and the human remains of a second individual, possibly a female in her 20s as well. The second cist found during the same excavation works contained a pot and the skeleton of a child aged around four. “At the time, average life expectancy was probably mid to late 20s; life was short, nasty and brutish. Infant mortality was high. What we have here is probably an extended family. There are a number of other burials in the immediate environs,” Dr. Murray Cook told Record Daily
He added, “I think the cairn is a family vault that’s been in use for a period of between 200 and 500 years. Different generations would have been buried in the cairn. However, it’s difficult to know if Tam and the bones thought to be female are man and wife. They could have been, but they could be brother and sister. The child is unlikely to be theirs, but it might be a grandchild or great grandchild.”
An exhibition featuring objects associated with “Torbrex Tam” is scheduled to take place at the Smith Museum in 2018.
Top image: Torbrex Tam; facial reconstruction carried out by Emily McCulloch
By Theodoros Karasavvas
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