Something very unknown went down in Dunmore Cave . Located in a restrained patch of Ireland , it ’s sound out this cavern is filled with hundreds of human bone , along with dozens of ash grey and bronze items . Its story is still not fully explained , but some suspect that this was the sight of a Viking massacre over a thousand class ago .
Dunmore Cave can be found in Ballyfoyle , just a short ride from the city of Kilkenny . The cavern features legion chambers and burrow some 310 meters ( 1,030 metrical unit ) into the surrounding limestone geology .
TheAnnals of the Four Masters , which chronicle thousands of year of Irish history up until 1616 CE , explains that the Derc Ferna , which might be an earlier name for Dunmore Cave , was the site of a Viking massacre in 930 CE .
However , the write up behind the victim has been up for public debate over the years .
One of the earliest reports comes from bishop George Berkeley who chat the cave in the former 1700s as a boy and remembered learn tarradiddle of bones stack up in the cavern ’s cloudy deepness .
“ Tis likewise cover that there are neat lashings of bushed men ’s osseous tissue to be seen piled up in the distant recesses of this cavern , ” reads one of hisaccounts .
Marauding Viking invader from Denmark is often the prime account , but there has also been speculation they may have been soldier from Ireland ’s Eleven Years War ( 1641 to 1653 ) or victim of the Irish Rebellion of 1798 .
Centuries afterwards , archeologist in 2007managed to documentat least 351 human bone in Dunmore Cave that belonged to over a dozen dissimilar citizenry , including many women , baby , and even infant .
Importantly , a study in 2004/2005 manage to radiocarbon engagement the bones . This rule out the hypothesis of the bones belong to 1798 rebels or victims of the Eleven Years War , and indicated that many of the remains date to around the 10th 100 CE , which neatly matches up with accounts of a Viking mass murder in 930 CE .
alike , a bit of Viking silvern coins , dated to around 930 CE , have been discovered at the cave , as well as a appeal of jewellery and beads .
It ’s well get it on that the 10th century was theprime fourth dimension for Viking raids . Norseman from Scandinavia would use their sailing skills to travel to Britain , Ireland , and mainland Europe where they would rifle Christian land for money and resource . As shown by the archaeological criminal record , these couldoften be bloody struggle .
Onehypothesisof the Dunmore Cave bones is that the local mass hid in the cave when news program of Viking invader came , hence why there are so many children and women witness among the remains . The Vikings light fires at the entry of the cave , hoping to smoke out the fleeing townsfolk and capture them to sell on the striver market . This would also account for the discovery of blacken clay and rock in the cavern . The cave eventually fill with smoke and atomic number 8 was depleted , killing all of the heroic people who took tax shelter here .
Still , however , many questions remain . While the cave has a crystal clear liaison to the Vikings , there is still a opportunity that the cave ’s remains are not evidence of mass debacle , but but a Viking sepulture ground alike to those find out elsewhere in Ireland .
“ Is Dunmore Cave sepulture seat or is it the website of the tragic butchery recorded in the annals ? Do the human remains reflect Viking burials on ' hedonist ' ground or do they represent innocent victims of a Viking mass murder ? Only further research and excavations will illuminate these key questions , ” concludes the 2007 report on the cave .
