Gardaí believe a skull found in a plastic bag during the clearing of scrubland at a house in west Cork may be that of a young person and may have been there for more than 20 years.
The discovery was made by a couple carrying out some clearance work at their rented home on the Beara Peninsula at about 3pm on Friday.
The couple are understood to have moved into the house last year.
The tenants noticed the plastic bag while clearing trees with a digger in February, but it was only when they went to remove the felled trees on Friday that they discovered the skull.
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Gardaí were alerted, and they removed the skull and the bag. Both will be sent to the forensic science laboratory in Dublin for examination and analysis to try to date both.
Garda sources told The Irish Times the skull did not look to be that of a fully grown adult and looks more like that of a teenager or a small person and may possibly be that of a female.
“There is no sign of any fractures or anything to suggest the person suffered blunt force trauma to the head and, while the lower jaw is missing, the skull is also remarkably clean and smooth,” a source said.
Gardaí have begun checking missing persons reports and hope DNA samples may help to identify the person. The skull has no teeth, so they will not be able to check dental records.
The bag containing the skull was a Supervalu plastic bag and, although the writing is faded, gardaí were able to make out that it came from Murphy’s Supervalu in nearby Castletownbere.
Gardaí will be hoping analysis of the polymers in the plastic bag will enable them to date the item, which may help to establish how the skull came to be on the remote scrubland.
Gardaí are keeping an open mind on what may have happened and, while the fact the skull was found in a plastic bag could well suggest foul play, there may be other explanations.
Gardaí believe the plastic bag may date to any time between the 1980s and 2000s. However, they point out that the skull could be much older.
“It is entirely possible that this skull may be a historic skull that someone found somewhere along the way and put in a plastic bag and wanted to dispose of it and threw in the scrubland,” a Garda source said.
Gardaí are examining if perhaps the skull may have been an heirloom belonging to a tenant and was left behind when they moved and was later dumped.
Gardaí have preserved the scene. They have not begun any searches of the area and will not do so until they receive the results of the examination of the skull by a forensic anthropologist.
