Burial

The National Monuments Service's description

Excavations just outside the eastern gate of the Holy Trinity Church, Church Lane, in 1999 ‘found a communal grave containing three roughly deposited individuals. Close by was a fourth individual, also in a shallow grave. All four had been the victims of violent death, with multiple wounds to their heads. Who were these men? Intensive analysis by osteoarchaeologist, Laureen Buckley, has pieced together the story of their lives and deaths. All four were relatively young males, and the three in the single grave exhibited traits that indicate a possible genetic link between them. Despite suffering from nutritional deficiencies or acute illness in childhood and undertaking heavy workloads in adolescence, at least two of the individuals had above-average living stature and two also had strongly developed shoulder muscles, including those for lifting and rotating the arms – two movements necessary in combat. Their physical suitability for combat is confirmed by the fact that, despite their youth, they were already combat veterans, with two of them showing evidence of healed head trauma. So how did they finally succumb in battle? All the individuals had multiple head trauma, varying from two to seven wounds each. Most of the blows were to the left side of the frontal bone of the skull, suggesting face-to-face combat with a right- handed opponent. However, one had his head almost cleft in two across the top of the skull, suggesting a downward blow from a height, possibly from horseback. The combat seems to have been ferocious: all of the men had received further violent blows as they were lying on the ground, and two of them had the tops of their heads caved in, with 'caps' of bone becoming detached from the skull. Only one of the men seems to have been cut with a sharp sword; two had been sliced with inferior blunt blades, and some of the metal from the point or edges of the weapons were found embedded in two of the skulls. The burials are thought to date from the seventeenth century, a time of upheaval and violent death for those who dared to be brothers-in-arms.’ (McConway, 2001; Buckley and McConway 2004)

Compiled by: Paul Walsh

Date of upload: 17 April 2015

References

McConway, C. 2001 Archaeological excavations at Church Lane, Carlingford, Co. Louth. Licence number 98E0161. Unpublished report. Undated, received 2001. National Monuments Service, Archive.

Buckley, L. and McConway, C. 2004 Wee band of brothers. Archaeology Ireland 18, no. 3, 40.