- KINNAKINELLY, CO. GALWAY, Galway

In September 1952 human remains were discovered during turf-cutting in a bog at Kinnakinelly, north-east Co. Galway, near the County Mayo border.²³ The find was made by Mr James Mullin, the owner of the bog, and was reported to the Gardaí at Milltown, who investigated the site in the company of local collector and antiquarian Dr T.B. Costello of Tuam. The bone was found at a depth of at least 2.5m below the bog surface. According to the finder, the body was placed with the head to the north and feet to the south. No further details as to its disposition are known, but it is likely that the body was in an extended position. A wooden stake was found ‘in the same place’ as the skeleton. Part of the skeleton (1952:5), associated deer bone and the wooden stake were forwarded to the NMI, and part of it remained in the bog. The site was not visited by Museum personnel.²⁴ The mandible has been identified as probably from a female aged between eighteen and 25 years.

Comment
This site was included with the radiocarbon date from the red deer metatarsal in a gazetteer of bog bodies published by Ó Floinn (1995, 226–7). A sample from this bone was radiocarbon-dated in 1989 and returned a date of 2135±35 BP,²⁵ which calibrates to 354–51 BC at 95.4% probability. Wooden stakes are sometimes found with bog bodies, e.g. the wellknown Iron Age bog body from Gallagh, Co. Galway (Ó Floinn 1988). As the surviving human mandible from Kinnakinelly had not been examined previously, this short note is included in the present volume for the sake of completeness.

HUMAN REMAINS
LAUREEN BUCKLEY

Description of the remains
The human remains (1952:5) consisted of a complete adult mandible. The mandible was small and the chin was rather pointed, therefore it was probably from a female individual.

Dentition

Attrition: there was a slight degree of wear on the left canine and premolars, moderate wear on the first molars and very little if any wear on the second and third molars.

Calculus: no calculus deposits were noted on the teeth.

Hypoplasia: linear enamel hypoplasia was noted on the left canine and first premolar.

Summary and conclusions
The remains represent one, probably female, individual. As there was only slight wear on the teeth, the remains are probably those of a young adult, aged 18–25 years at the time of death.

23. Parish of Addergoole, barony of Dunmore. OS 6in. sheet 4, exact location not marked. The only indication of the location is that it was apparently close to the river that forms the border between counties Mayo and Galway. Other recorded sites in this townland include a church (SMR GA004-033——) and a children’s burial ground (GA004-03301-).
24. In 1989 a renewed attempt was made to investigate the find-place of the burial, as the red deer metatarsal had been radiocarbon-dated. The attempt was not successful, as the Mullin family had moved away from the area and there was no record of the discovery on Garda files.
25. GrN-15374.