2023:526 - Rosses Upper, Sligo

The rescue excavation of human remains discovered in Rosses Upper townland in Rosses Point, County Sligo, was carried out by the writer and an osteoarchaeologist between 16 and 20 January 2023. The burials had been uncovered during the construction of an extension to a modern dwelling in November 2022 and initially inspected by National Museum and National Monuments personnel.

The site was located in the back yard of the modern dwelling, towards the east end of Rosses Point village and was bounded to the south by the dwelling, to the east by a paved area and to the north by a steep slope along the northern boundary of the back yard. The first edition of the OS six-inch map of 1836-7 showed a cluster of houses, a clachan, surrounding the site location, but no evidence of a burial ground. Much of the clachan had disappeared and the site was shown at the southern end of a featureless field on the 1940-1 edition of the OS six-inch map.

The area of the rescue excavation measured 7-8m east-west by 7.7-8.3m. It was reduced by 50-230mm. A sondage was excavated within the foundation of a recently demolished extension to the dwelling, to investigate re-deposited subsoil. The sondage measured 0.5m square. The entire contents of a spoil heap, which measured 2.7m x 2.5m x 1m high, were dry sieved using 7mm and 10mm mesh-sized sieves.

Across the surface of the area was a disturbed layer, which measured 0.1-0.15m thick and consisted of soil which contained modern artefacts and disarticulated human and animal bone fragments. Also visible on the surface was bedrock, modern stone chippings, quarried stone/hardcore, the concrete foundation of the recently demolished extension and the concrete paving slabs of a patio area. The concrete foundation enclosed an area measuring 3.8m north-south by 2.7m. A number of modern services crossed the site. Below the disturbed layer was re-deposited subsoil, natural subsoils and bedrock. The re-deposited subsoil, excavated within the sondage, measured 50-160mm thick and contained one human skull fragment. Below it was natural subsoil.  The spoil heap contained disarticulated human and animal bone, modern artefacts and sea-shell fragments.

The remains of six individuals (SK 1-6) and a number of disarticulated bones and bone fragments were recovered during the rescue excavation. All six burials had been disturbed by the recent 2022 development and/or the previous development during construction of the dwelling in the 2000s. SK 1 and SK 5 were the best preserved. A foundation trench excavated by machine as part of the recent development, along the east side of the site, truncated SK 2 and SK 3. The remains of SK 2 were visible as skull fragments on the west side of the foundation trench and two tibias visible in the eastern section face of the foundation trench. A small number of disarticulated bone were also found in the foundation. SK 4 consisted of 37 cranium fragments located to the north-east of SK 1 and SK 3. SK 6 consisted of a fragmented fibula and foot bones located to the south-west of SK 5.

Much of the stratigraphy encountered during the excavation was the result of the recent development works and the construction of the existing dwelling house in the 2000s. Only modern artefacts were recovered. The analysis of sixty animal bones recovered revealed the vast majority of the bone to be food waste from livestock (cattle and sheep). The osteoarchaeological analysis indicated that five of the six individuals found on the site were adults and one, an adolescent. The two best-preserved remains, SK 1 and SK 5, were in a supine position and orientated east-west with the head to the west, indicative of Christian burials. It would appear that these burials form part of a larger burial ground with one known burial (SK 2) partially located east of the excavated area. The disarticulated bone recovered from the disturbed layer within the area excavated and the spoil heap were likely to be from the six individuals, i.e. SK 1-6. The majority of the bone was from adults, however, one possible infant bone was identified.

Radiocarbon dating of samples from SK 1 and SK 5 produced a similar date range for both, from the late 15th century to the mid 17th century AD. This site is part of a secular burial ground dating from the late medieval period, which does not appear to be associated with any ecclesiastical foundation, the nearest of which, a church (SL008-096) and graveyard (SL008-096001) in Rosses Lower townland, is located c. 1.7km away. The site has been given the recorded monument number SL008-223 and is classified as a burial ground.

4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, County Mayo