What is recorded here

Inishlackan is a small island off County Galway where scattered bones and one flat stone marked a forgotten burial beside a coastal midden. The sea had buried the first accounts, erased the 1984 search and waited until 2021 before giving up its dead again. What remains is not a grand tomb but a little pile of bone and stone, exposed by weather and remembered through patience.

Associated with a coastal midden (GA063-004001-) in the sand dunes at the NE end of Inishlackan. According to local information, a number of burials were noted on the W edge of the midden in the mid-1970s. On inspection in September 1984 no visible surface traces of them were found (SMR file). Following a report of exposed human bone in June 2021, the island was revisited. Dispersed bones were found on the ground surface among a scatter of stones (L 1m x Wth 0.8m), a little inland from the SE end of the midden. One distinctive stone (L 0.11m; Wth 0.25m; T 0.14m) at the E end had the appearance of a possible headstone. The bones were removed for analysis. (Gosling 1993, 143) Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 11 March 2022

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