Tests to Determine Era of Recovered Tuam Infant Remains
Excavation work continues at the former mother-and-baby home site in Tuam, County Galway, where infant remains have been discovered. Investigators are still determining whether the bones date from the institution’s operational years between 1925 and 1961.
Radiocarbon testing is underway to identify the era of origin for seven sets of remains recovered in recent weeks. Results are expected to take several months.
Findings and Ongoing Work
The Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention in Tuam (ODAIT) reported that an additional two sets of remains were unearthed from another section of the site within the past month. These are believed to originate from the period when a workhouse operated there, spanning the mid-19th to early 20th centuries.
The ODAIT noted that the overlapping uses of the site over the past 200 years make the excavation complex.
Throughout its history, the location has been used as a workhouse, a military barracks, and later as a mother-and-baby home. The infant skeletal remains were found near an underground vaulted structure identified on old workhouse plans. This area differs from other underground chambers already known to contain significant amounts of human remains that have not yet been exhumed.
The site is divided into multiple sections to enable archaeologists to conduct systematic and careful analysis.
Author’s Summary
The Tuam excavation seeks to clarify the origins of infant remains found at a historically layered site, combining scientific tests with a careful archaeological approach.