And it has also emerged that a second major archaeological discovery, a 1,000-year-old defensive ditch, found nearby on the site of the former Nancy Spain's pub on Barrack Street suggests that the mediaeval city was bigger than previously thought.
The remarkable details shed fascinating new light on the city’s turbulent, bloody and often gruesome past, and prompt new questions about the pattern of human settlement in 11th-century Cork.
The information is contained in a major new report on the archaeological investigations which have taken place since the first skeletal remains were found last October during the demolition of the pub and associated groundworks to clear the site for a Cork City Council social housing scheme.
The Irish Examiner first reported the discovery of the historic bones, and how some of the skeletons had their hands tied behind their backs.
The nature of the gruesome find made headlines around the world.
A turbulent time in Irish history
It has now been confirmed that the skeletal remains of six people in total, all male, were found on the site.
Four were dumped together in a shallow mass grave, with their hands tied behind their backs. Three were aged between 18 and 25.
Radiocarbon dating places the remains between the mid-1400s and the early 1600s, a turbulent and violent time in Irish history, with Munster and Cork the focus of two Desmond Rebellions, the Nine Years War which culminated with the Battle of Kinsale, and a revolt in Cork City in 1603 following the death of Elizabeth I, after which the citizens of Cork rose up against English rule and the precursor to Elizabeth Fort, just 80m from the burial site, was burned down.
The archaeological report says the age, placement of the bones and the manner of burial all point to a military connection.
A cause of death could not be established, but the report says: “Whichever event led to the deaths of the six men whose remains were found on Barrack Street, what is certain is that based on the nature of the burial positions within the shallow graves they met a violent and gruesome end.”
But archaeologists were also stunned to discover a previously unknown defensive ditch about 80m away, on the same site, which has been dated to around 1,000-years ago.
Its location some 300m from what was previously regarded as the extent of settlement of the mediaeval city suggests that the homes of those who lived in 11th century Cork extended much further south along the southern banks of the river Lee than anyone ever thought.
City archaeologist Ciara Brett complimented the work of David Murphy, an archaeologist with John Cronin and Associates, who oversaw the excavation of the site.
“The uncovering of the ditch feature at the Barrack Street site is a highly significant archaeological discovery for the city of Cork,” she said.
“This area formed part of the suburbs of the mediaeval city and is therefore of important historical and archaeological significance.
“The ditch, which is exceptionally large in size, was not known prior to excavation.
“There is no record in the historical sources, neither documentary nor cartographic, of the existence of such a substantial feature in this part of the city.”
