Dismembered remains of bodies snatched from their graves more than 150 years ago, which resurfaced last month during building work in Dublin, are to receive a full Christian reburial.
The gruesome discovery was made by builders working on a foundation for a new pub in Lower Liffey Street. After discovering the body parts under a concrete floor, they contacted the gardai. Work on the site was stopped for the best part of a week and the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, was called. Dr Harbison concluded that the remains were not buried in this century and referred the case to "archaeopathologist", Dr Maura Delaney from the Department of Anatomy in Trinity College Dublin.
Dr Delaney believes the bodies date from before the Anatomy Act of 1832, which legalised the provision of cadavers for the purposes of teaching anatomy. Before 1832 there was a thriving illegal trade in corpses snatched from graves.
In 1830, grave robbers could get £1.5.0 (£1.25) for their booty from surgeons, colleges and medical students. Pitched battles were sometimes fought in cemeteries by relatives anxious to protect recently buried corpses against grave robbers and medical students.
Soft tissue samples and bones - from one child and possibly as many as five adults - were apparently dumped by grave robbers at the site now under investigation. An archaeologist, Ms Helen Kehoe, says it's likely that the bodies were dumped in the basement of a pre-existing building, and that the site may have played host to an anatomy school in the early 19th century.
The remains were covered in lime so that the flesh would disintegrate quickly, while charcoal was used to mask the smell of rotting flesh. Green residue found on the ribs of some of the victims suggests that the bodies were suspended by copper wire for examination and display in the classroom.
Dr Delaney said it was likely that the bodies were taken from paupers' graves. "Before 1832, the only bodies which could be legally used for dissection were those of people who had been hanged or executed. It was a humiliation, part of the punishment for their crime.
"Consequently, there was a big body snatching trade. The bodies would have to be fresh as they couldn't be preserved. They were usually taken from paupers' graves, which weren't very deep, and a lot of them would have been disposed of in the graves they came from after the dissection."
Struck by the misfortune of the victims, the archaeologist for Dublin Corporation, Ms Daire O'Rourke, said, "These poor people probably had a miserable life. When they died, their corpses were snatched from their graves and now they have been dug up again by archaeoligists!"
Building continues on the site, and the corner where the bones were found has been covered over with concrete. The bodies will be buried when Dr Delaney completes her study. Their former resting place will become a pub and coffee bar.
