Archive News
Discovery of skull pierced by an arrowhead sparks murder mystery – 1,000 years later
Date Published: {J}
By Dara Bradley
The discovery of a skull pierced by an iron arrowhead as part of skeleton remains found in a shallow grave has sparked a murder mystery in a Galway village – 1,000 years after the gruesome assault!
Recent quarrying in an esker in the townland of Tisaxon, close to Newcastle, Athenry, revealed human remains exposed in the quarry face.
The archaeological work has just been completed by local archaeologist Martin Fitzpatrick of Arch Consultancy Ltd, who was funded by the National Monuments Service, which comes under the remit of Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan.
Excavation indicated that the burial was in a shallow grave and the body, which was that of an adult male aged between 17 and 25. The body was lying on its side and crouched rather than having been laid out.
A small hole in the skull was the only noticeable blemish in the skeleton that was otherwise in good condition.
Further examination by osteoarchaeologist Caoimhe Tobin revealed that the wound was inflicted by a small, socketed, iron arrowhead which had pierced the skull.
The arrowhead measured 4cm in length and was recovered from the interior of the skull. Preliminary analysis suggests it dates to the 9th or 10th century.
Also exposed were traces of an underground passage in another face of the same quarry.
The ‘passage feature’ proved to be the ‘creep’ of a souterrain or underground chamber usually used for refuge and storage. Dating from the 9th century onwards these monuments are often associated with ringforts.
Mr Fitzpatrick explained that while there is no ringfort associated with this souterrain the ecclesiastical site of Templemoyle lies to the immediate east.
He added: “The archaeological significance of Templemoye is evident in the features associated with it. These features include an early ecclesiastical enclosure, a well, graveyard, church, cemetery, a field system and the adjacent Tisaxon – from which the townland gets its name.”
He said the church and graveyard are noteworthy in that they are sited on the esker ridge which originally extended North East of the church.
Since 1952 a number of burials have been uncovered during the extraction of sand and gravel from this area. In 1979 a graveslab bearing the inscription OROIT AR MAELPOIL and a large bronze-coated iron hand bell of 7th-9th century date were discovered at the site.
The most recent quarrying activity took place to the west of the church and graveyard, which uncovered the skeleton that has led to unanswered questions about the death of the man 1000 years ago.
Mr Fitzpatrick said: “The findings indicate that all is not as it seems on this idyllic esker overlooking the surrounding marshy land. One thousand years ago a man pierced through the head with an arrow was hastily buried in a shallow grave. Who was he? Was there a battle or an attack on the site? Are there other graves in the area with similar wounds? Is his death associated with the previously unrecorded souterrain that was also discovered as a result of quarrying?
“It appears that the excavations have raised more questions than they have answered. One thing however is assured – that is the archaeological and historical significance of the area of Templemoyle and Tisaxon.”
People’s living conditions less than 100 years ago were frightening. We have come a long way. We talk about water charges today, but back then the local District Councils were erecting pumps for local communities and the lovely town of Mountbellew, according to Council minutes, had open sewers,” says Galway County Council archivist Patria McWalter.
Patria believes we “need to take pride in our history, and we should take the same pride in our historical records as we do in our built heritage”. When you see the wealth of material in her care, this belief makes sense.
She is in charge of caring for the rich collection of administrative records owned by Galway County Council and says “these records are as much part of our history as the Rock of Cashel is. They document our lives and our ancestors’ lives. And nobody can plan for the future unless you learn from the past, what worked and what didn’t”.
Archivists and librarians are often unfairly regarded as being dry, academic types, but that’s certainly not true of Patria. Her enthusiasm is infectious as she turns the pages of several minute books from Galway’s Rural District Councils, all of them at least 100 years old.
Part of her role involved cataloguing all the records of the Councils – Ballinasloe, Clifden, Galway, Gort, Loughrea, Mountbellew, Portumna and Tuam. These records mostly consisted of minutes of various meetings.
When she was cataloguing them she realised their worth to local historians and researchers, so she decided to compile a guide to their content. The result is For the Record: The Archives of Galway’s Rural District Councils, which will be a valuable asset to anybody with an interest in history.
Many representatives on these Councils were local personalities and several were arrested during the political upheaval of the era, she explains.
And, ushering in a new era in history, women were allowed to sit on these Rural District Councils – at the time they were not allowed to sit on County Councils.
All of this information is included in Patria’s introductory essay to the attractively produced A4 size guide, which gives a glimpse into how these Rural Councils operated and the way political thinking changed in Ireland during a short 26-year period. In the early 1900s, these Councils supported Home Rule, but by 1920, they were calling for full independence and refusing to recognise the British administration.
“I love the tone,” says Patria of the minutes from meetings. “The language was very emotive.”
That was certainly true of the Gort Rural District Council. At a meeting in 1907, following riots in Dublin at the premiere of JM Synge’s play, The Playboy of the Western World the councillors’ response was vehement. They recorded their decision to “protest most emphatically against the libellous comedy, The Playboy of the Western World, that was belched forth during the past week in the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the fostering care of Lady Gregory and Mr Yeats. We congratulate the good people of Dublin in howling down the gross buffoonery and immoral suggestions that are scattered throughout this scandalous performance.
For more from the archives see this week’s Tribunes here
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
SLIGO 0-9
GALWAY 1-4
FRANK FARRAGHER IN ENNISCRONE
GALWAY’S first serious examination of the 2013 season rather disturbingly ended with a rating well below the 40% pass mark at the idyllic, if rather Siberian, seaside setting of Enniscrone on Sunday last.
The defeat cost Galway a place in the FBD League Final against Leitrim and also put a fair dent on their confidence shield for the bigger tests that lie ahead in February.
There was no fluke element in this success by an understrength Sligo side and by the time Leitrim referee, Frank Flynn, sounded the final whistle, there wasn’t a perished soul in the crowd of about 500 who could question the justice of the outcome.
It is only pre-season and last Sunday’s blast of dry polar winds did remind everyone that this is far from summer football, but make no mistake about it, the match did lay down some very worrying markers for Galway following a couple of victories over below par third level college teams.
Galway did start the game quite positively, leading by four points at the end of a first quarter when they missed as much more, but when Sligo stepped up the tempo of the game in the 10 minutes before half-time, the maroon resistance crumbled with frightening rapidity.
Some of the statistics of the match make for grim perusal. Over the course of the hour, Galway only scored two points from play and they went through a 52 minute period of the match, without raising a white flag – admittedly a late rally did bring them close to a draw but that would have been very rough justice on Sligo.
Sligo were backable at 9/4 coming into this match, the odds being stretched with the ‘missing list’ on Kevin Walsh’s team sheet – Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, David Kelly, David Maye, Johnny Davey and Eamon O’Hara, were all marked absent for a variety of reasons.
Walsh has his Sligo side well schooled in the high intensity, close quarters type of football, and the harder Galway tried to go through the short game channels, the more the home side bottled them up.
Galway badly needed to find some variety in their attacking strategy and maybe there is a lot to be said for the traditional Meath style of giving long, quick ball to a full forward line with a big target man on the edge of the square – given Paul Conroy’s prowess close to goal last season, maybe it is time to ‘settle’ on a few basics.
Defensively, Galway were reasonably solid with Gary Sice at centre back probably their best player – he was one of the few men in maroon to deliver decent long ball deep into the attacking zone – while Finian Hanley, Conor Costello and Gary O’Donnell also kept things tight.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Date Published: 23-Jan-2013
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