A 215-year old beech tree was uprooted outside Collooney, Sligo, Ireland. A normal enough occurrence, one would say. After all, the tree was old. But locals were in for a shock when they went looking, because they found a badly disturbed skeleton hanging from among the roots.
The upper part of the skeleton was in the air, entangled among the root system of the tree, while the legs lay in the ground.
The Sligo-Leitrim archaeological consultancy Archaeological Services (SLAS) has been commissioned by the National Monuments Service to excavate and retrieve the remains, reports The Mirror.
"Preliminary analysis has indicated that the remains consist of young man who was between 17 and 25 years old when he died," said a report by Irish Archaeology, according to io9.com. His bones contained several injuries which had been inflicted by a sharp blade, possibly a sword or knife. He had obviously suffered a violent death, but whether these wounds were related to an ancient battle or a personal dispute remains unknown. The body was subsequently buried in a shallow east-west oriented grave and radiocarbon analysis indicates that this occurred sometime between 1030 and 1200 AD."
"No other burials are known from the area but historical records do indicate a possible graveyard and church in the vicinity," said archaeologist Marion Dowd, according to Irish Archaeology.
Researchers are studying the surrounding area to discern whether the body was buried as a singular incident or whether it is part of a larger grave site, reports Science Alert.
