Detail of a wooden carving of a female figure

This is a detail of a wooden carving of a female figure, probably a goddess, found at Ballachulish in Inverness-shire. The figure was carved between 730 and 520 BC. This is how the figure looked when found, before drying to its current, distorted form.

When found, the carving on the Ballachulish figure was crisp and sharp, suggesting that it had not lain for long on the surface of the peat bog. The arms are defined by raised lines and shallow relief. The right hand holds a phallic object.

In use the figure was set upright, its base being driven into the ground. Bits of gravel are still stuck in the bottom of the figure, like soil in the tread of a shoe. As a final act of ritual the figure was buried in a marshy area, now a peat bog.

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