Cremated human remains from 4,000 years ago discovered at rocket launch site in UK
A space company preparing for the United Kingdom’s first vertical rocket launch knew it was going to make history.
It just didn’t expect to find it in the form of ancient human remains.
During the groundwork of what is set to be a historical rocket launch site in Northern Scotland, workers with SaxaVord Spaceport reported unearthing a 4,000-year-old discovery. They stumbled upon burnt bones and pits in what appears to be a Bronze Age cremation cemetery, archaeologists say.
SaxaVord is preparing a site on Unst in the Shetland Islands to launch the UK’s first vertical rocket toward the end of 2023, the company said on its website. The discovery of the ancient cemetery won’t inhibit construction, and SaxaVord said it is working with AOC Archaeology to learn more about the burial site, the company wrote on social media.
Archaeologists think it may date from 2200-1800 BC, the BBC reported.
AOC Archaeology had already been onsite because of a World War II radar base being preserved on the island, according to LiveScience. Then workers unexpectedly came across the much more ancient piece of history.
“We didn’t expect to find this Bronze Age thing as well,” said Val Turner, Shetland’s regional archaeologist, according to Space.
Archaeologists found more than a dozen burial deposits within an arc of granite boulders and pits, according to Turner.
The remains of an Early Bronze Age ritual ceremony may have been discovered during construction on our launch site.
We’re now working with @aocarchaeology to learn the full story about our historic site and Unst’s rich past. pic.twitter.com/xsvbcfcitq— SaxaVord Spaceport UK (@SaxaVord_Space) July 21, 2023
Katie O’Connell, a site assessor with AOC Archaeology, told the BBC the site is likely part of a “ritual complex.”
“A standout feature uncovered so far is the remains of a quartz setting,” she told the BBC. “White quartz is often suggested to have had significance in prehistory and is found in association with burial tombs, rock art panels, and deposited carefully at domestic sites.”
Unst is a sparsely inhabited island in the northernmost part of the UK. It has approximately 630 inhabitants across 46 square miles of land, according to UK Population Data.
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