SHEFFIELD, England, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- British scientists say prehistoric mummies found on Scottish islands were made of body parts from several different people but arranged to look like one person.

The mummies found at Cladh Hallan in the Outer Hebrides, which were carefully placed in a natural-looking crouched burial position, were assembled from a number of body parts belonging to different people, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported this week.


Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University said the mummies had not been buried directly after preservation, and the body parts may have come from people in the same families, possibly as part of spiritual ceremonies.

One of the mummies, first thought to be a female in her 40s, was in fact made up of three people with some parts, such as the skull, coming from a male.

"These could be kinship components, they are putting lineages together, the mixing up of different people's body parts seems to be a deliberate act," Parker Pearson said.

"I don't believe these 'mummies' were buried immediately, but played an active part in society, as they do in some tribal societies in other parts of the world," he said.

As part of ancestral worship, he said, the mummies were likely consulted for spiritual advice to help the community make decisions.