Burial ground

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on an elevated sandy knoll with ground falling away in all directions but particularly to the south and west. Human remains were uncovered in the rear garden of a modern bungalow in Corgarve and the site had been initially visited by Laureen Buckley on behalf of the National Museum of Ireland [NMI] who retrieved the skull of an adult female along with portions of a femur and a number of other bones.
The human remains were uncovered when the owner of the bungalow was digging a trench running adjacent to a wooden gazebo and located 3m to the NW of the house and 2.8m W of the wall of the bungalow. The site was inspected by Matthew Seaver who extended the small trench to an area of 1.3m by 1.10m to try and ascertain the number and condition of the burials. In his report he recorded the following details; 'The stratigraphy comprised a shallow deposit of humic sand overlying light brown sand. On the northern side of the trench alongside the concrete sill beam of the Gazebo the sand contained cable ties, plastic children’s toys and other modern debris to a depth of 0.54m in depth. This investigation found that Burial 1, 2018:45 was located at 0.45m in depth on the western side of the trench. At this location a mandible and pelvis fragments were located in the same place along with a broken femur fragment. It was concluded that these bones had been disturbed at some point in the past and were removed. Underlying these and running west-east across the trench was an articulated vertebrae. On the southeastern side of the trench a further skull was found immediately below the surface, Burial 2.
This discovery confirmed that the site is by definition a small cemetery with an indication that the burials are west-east in orientation but some had been disturbed in the past and that further more extensive licensed fieldwork would be required to uncover its full extent. The trench was subsequently backfilled with sand with markers buried to indicate the location of human remains. The human remains retrieved will be subject to osteological analysis and radiocarbon dating in the near future with appropriate licensing' (Matthew Seaver IA/127/2018 ; NMI Accession No. 2018:45).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on report kindly provided by Matthew Seaver, Assistant Keeper, Irish Antiquities Division, National Museum of Ireland.

Date of upload: 30 August 2018