What is recorded here

Françoise Henry uncovered the burial in 1946 on a terrace beside two houses on Inis Gé Thuaidh. The person lay stretched out with arms at the sides, not hidden in a coffin but marked by deliberate stones: a black pebble on the shoulder, a round flat stone across the belly, and small coloured stones near the chest. The grave cut shallow through grey sand and cobbling, suggesting a shroud rather than timber. That much is known; the rest belongs to the dead and the island.

On a terrace on the NE side of the summit of Bailey Mór mound (MA023-014003-). Françoise Henry uncovered this burial in 1946 while excavating an area to N of two houses (MA023-014007; MA023-014008-). The excavation results were not published, but Greene (2009, 149-150), has extracted details about the burial from Henry’s archive of papers. It was an extended inhumation with arms at the sides; the grave was dug into an occupation layer of grey sand, which included sherds of Man-made underground passage ware and overlay an area of cobbling. A number of stones appeared to have been deliberately position on the body: ‘there was a black pebble on the left shoulder, a stone at the neck, some 'very small coloured stones' in the upper chest area, a round flat stone on the abdominal region and a little red pebble and blackish stone on the shins. The position of the body and the apparent shallowness of the grave suggest that it was not in a coffin, but may have been wrapped in a shroud.’ (ibid. 150). Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 26 July 2023 References: Greene, S. 2009 Settlement, identity and change on the Atlantic Island of North-West Co. Mayo c. AD400-1100 (2 vols.) Unpublished PhD thesis submitted to University College Dublin.

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