Human remains have been washing out of a dune area over the summer on to a popular beach in Smerwick Harbour in west Kerry. The skeletal parts, freed by coastal erosion from a medieval burial site, have been appearing almost daily along the beach. Report by Anne Lucey
Many local people are unhappy at the disturbance of the skeletons but trying to resolve the raises ethical and environmental concerns.
There is no easy solution, according to Ms Una Cosgrave, heritage officer with Kerry County Council. The council has written to Dúchas and the National Museum for advice and assistance.
Some of the earliest settlements in Munster have been traced to the surrounding area; the Teampall Bán graveyard, while established as a 15th century site, may in fact be much older, Ms Cosgrave said. "We don't know the full extent of the site. It could be 13th century or it could be older. We don't know how much is there or how old it is."
The archaeology of the site is just one aspect, there are also ethical and environmental considerations. "Ideally, the long-term solution is a full-scale excavation from an archaeological side of things, but from the environmental side of things that would destabilise the dune system. There is no simple solution and a whole lot of strands touching on coastal erosion and on archaeological matters. It is also unacceptable that human remains should be washed out onto a beach."
Putting up rock armour to prevent erosion might only shift the problem to another side of the bay.
The Dingle peninsula has more ecclesiastical sites per square metre than anywhere in Europe. It also has many pre-Christian sites and there are numerous Stone Age sites in the surrounding areas.
The appearance of human bone from the graveyard, which stretches for at least 200 metres alongside the Wine Strand in Ballyferriter, began in the early 1990s, with the worsening of coastal erosion.
Skeletal remains on the beach have recurred again to an almost daily occurrence this summer, which concerns the local community, who are upset at the disturbance of the remains. Local councillor Mr Séamus Cosaí Fitzgerald said: "It has gone on long enough and it has to be dealt with."
Local gardaí and those using the strand retrieve the remains and they are deposited in the county museum, the Dingle Garda station and the museum in Ballyferriter.
A survey undertaken by Mr Laurence Dunne, assistant county archaeologist, and others under licence from Dúchas three years ago, indicated a dating range from the 14th and 15th centuries.
There is also written evidence of a church on the site during the siege of the Spanish and Irish at Smerwick in 1580.