A HITHERTO unknown burial ground, apparently dating from before 1800 and possibly much earlier, has been uncovered at a building site in the Rathfarnham area of Dublin.
The operator of a mechanical excavator noticed a human skull as he was digging a trench through a car-park beside the Orchard Inn, on Butterfield Avenue, at lunchtime yesterday.
The builders then noticed that there were scattered human bones throughout the site and building work was stopped as the Garda and the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, examined the scene.
Fragments of bones from at least three bodies were found, along with one skull.
"We've ruled out foul play," Dr Harbison declared later, after examining the bones, buried under several feet of earth. They had been found under the concrete floor of a house, dating from 1907, which was demolished 10 years ago.
Dr Maire Delaney, of the Department of Anatomy at Trinity College Dublin, who also examined the bones, said they appeared to be part of an early burial site.
"It could be medieval," she said.
The Garda's oldest map for the area was dated 1816, and it showed no burial ground. Neither is it indicated on the Sites and Monuments Record for Co Dublin, according to Ms Margaret Gowen, consultant archaeologist.
The Garda sealed off the site while the trench was examined and also sealed off part of a dump in Tallaght where earth from the site had been deposited. It is also expected to be examined today by the State Heritage Service.
"Archaeologists from the Heritage Service would have to inspect the site", Ms Gowen said. "If it was pre-1700, it would have full protection under the National Monuments Acts, in which case the service has full sway.
"But even if it turned out not to be archaeological, the remains would be treated as Christian burials and would be disinterred with all due care and attention for reburial at an appropriate location", she explained.
Ms Gowen said it was the first she had heard of a burial site in this part of Rathfarnham. "There is no sign of a site on any of the maps, including Rocque's 1760 map of the environs of Dublin, so it may be quite early", she added.