Bones found as builders renovate house in Cork City

They alerted gardaí who arrived shortly after 4pm and sealed off the site pending a forensic examination of the area.

Dr Margot Bolster, the assistant state pathologist, conducted a preliminary examination of the bones at the scene and confirmed they were human skeletal remains.

The coroner’s office was notified before the bones were removed to the city morgue for a more detailed inspection.

Dr Bolster was able to confirm that the bones were the remains of at least two individuals, and were more than 70 years old.

The case then became an archaeological mystery.

Gardaí consulted with UCC archaeologists, Barra O’Donnabhain and Mara Tesorieri — both experts in ancient human bones — who examined the remains and determined that they could be between 150 and 200 years old.

However, they said carbon dating will be required to establish their exact age, and the bones have now been sent to Queens.

Using that timeframe, gardaí consulted historical maps for the city.

The 1852 Moores National Exhibition map of Cork City shows that there were two hospitals — the Royal and St Stephens — as well as a burial ground in that area in the middle of the 19th century.

Gardaí believe it is most likely that the house in which the builders were working on Monday was built on a portion of the vast old burial site.

Infectious and contagious diseases were endemic in 19th century Cork, particularly in the inner city where the housing conditions in its warren of lanes, particularly off Barrack St and Shandon St, were abysmal and overcrowded.

Sanitation was primitive and access to clean drinking water was limited.

Thousands of people died after the Famine, with typhus, dysentery, and yellow fever endemic.