County: Galway Site name: Terryland
Sites and Monuments Record No.: GA082-080002 & GA082-080002 Licence number: 13E0058
Author: Billy Quinn
Site type: Human Remains in vicinity of castle and house, 17th century
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 529421m, N 726385m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.283079, -9.058407
The skeletal remains of 10 individuals were discovered just east of Terryland Castle in February 2013, during archaeological excavations in advance of the construction of a pedestrian ramp connecting Dyke Road to Bóthar Na dTreabh on the outskirts of Galway City.
The remains were discovered just below the topsoil and comprised seven adults and three juveniles; four of the adults were male and three were female. All the remains were in a poor state of preservation. The majority of the burials were orientated west-east in the Christian tradition but, unusually, three were interred with their heads to the east. Also noteworthy was the apparently haphazard positioning of the remains, suggesting relatively informal interments. In one instance two skeletons were found side by side buried head to toe. All the graves were found at about the same level and there was no evidence for earlier or later truncations
Finds from the grave cuts included a number of corroded iron nails, some glass fragments, part of a small clay pipe and two sherds of tin-glazed earthenware dating to approximately AD 1660–1720. Four bone samples representing four different individuals from across the site were radiocarbon dated, resulting in dates from the mid 15th century to modern times. This broad date range is typical of results from post-medieval/early modern material. Based on the finds, the arrangement of the graves and the osteological evidence it would appear that the remains represent individuals, carelessly buried the victims of a period of upheaval.
Moore Group, Corporate House, Ballybrit Business Park, Ballybrit, Galway
