Chealamy Beaker
Strathnaver Museum

This decorated beaker, dating from the period 2900 BCE to 1600 BCE, is a fine example of a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age ceramic pot.   

It was excavated in 1983 from a burial cist, a small stone-built coffin-like structure at Chealamy in Strathnaver. The beaker was found alongside the remains of a human skeleton, suggestive of ‘grave goods’.   

Grave goods were objects of significance to the departed. This practice of burying them was present in many cultures and provides archaeologists with information to help us understand past peoples.