Burial

The National Monuments Service's description

According to the files in the National Museum of Ireland, in August 1990 human remains were discovered on a farm near the river Slate, at Kilnantoge Upper , Co. Offaly (Cahill & Sikora 2011, vol. 2, 508). The bone was found when a combine harvester, which was harvesting a crop, sank into a hole in boggy ground and had to be dug out. They lay just north of the river Slate, which forms the border between Counties Kildare and Offaly. The area in which the bones were found is marked as prone to flooding on the OS 6-inch map for the area. During this time, human remains were noticed at a depth of 0.75m below ground level. The site was investigated by Mary Cahill of the NMI. At the time of inspection the hole had filled with water to a point just above where the skeletal remains had been discovered. The soil was very peaty with no visible stratigraphy or features except that there may have been a layer of twigs and branches immediately above the bones. The human remains (1990:50) were acquired but have not been analysed (NMI file).

References

Cahill, M. and Sikora, M. (eds) 2011 Breaking ground, finding graves - reports on the excavations of burials by the National Museum of Ireland, 1927-2006, 2 vols. Dublin. Wordwell Ltd. in association with the National Museum of Ireland.