The discovery is unprecedented. A recent storm uprooted a two-hundred-year-old tree in the Irish market town of Colloney, exposing a collection of bones dating back to the Middle Ages! For the occasion, archaeologists from the Sligo-Leitrim archaeological consultancy Archaeological Services (SLAS) were dispatched to analyze the site.
After careful excavation, it would appear that the 215-year-old tree was indeed protecting the body of a young man, aged between 17 and 20. Carbon-14 dating suggests that he died between 1030 and 1200.
What’s most surprising is the nature of the young man’s death: according to the researchers, he died a violent death, with numerous blade marks on his hands and ribs. It should be noted, however, that the corpse was subsequently buried in accordance with medieval Christian rites.
The appearance of the tree would have come much later, and the roots would then have begun to intertwine with the top of the skeleton. A wonderful discovery, whose secrets have yet to be fully revealed by ongoing analysis!
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