Ancient Skeleton Uncovered During Hurricane Ophelia

The skeletal remains, believed to be at least 1,000 years old, were found intact in Kilmore Quay, County Wexford. Google Maps

An ancient skeleton was discovered after Hurricane Ophelia hit Ireland.

The skeletal remains, believed to be at least 1,000 years old, were found intact at Kilmore Quay, County Wexford, after Ophelia-spawned waves hit a walkway, according to the Irish Daily Mirror.

“People out walking discovered the remains on Tuesday afternoon. The area has been sealed off since then,” Jim Moore, a local councilor, was quoted by the publication as saying. “It appears to be a grave, so in other words it is not a body that was washed ashore.”

An examination will be carried out by Ireland’s state pathologist, Marie Cassidy. The remains, she said, were likely from the Iron Age, which ended some 1,600 years ago.

The remains will be taken to Dublin for testing.

“It is the closest point to the sea,” Moore explained. “It is very remote and it now throws up the question whether there are more burial grounds in the area.”

The storm’s force slammed the country’s coastline, temporarily speeding up the erosion.

“It is a very tidal area. Erosion is the reason this was found,” he said. “It left the site exposed and that’s how it was spotted.”

A similar incident unfolded in nearby Ballyteigue Bay two years ago. “That was another very old skeleton,” Moore said, adding that there’s no clear link “between the two.”

“We have to consider know whether there is a need for further archaeological examination,” he said.

'Sea snow' at Trearddur Bay on October 16, 2017 in Holyhead, Wales. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Ophelia killed three people and did tens of millions of dollars in damage—it even turned the sky red.

According to the BBC, a man “died near Dundalk, [County] Louth, after his car was struck by a tree” while another man was killed “in a chainsaw accident in [County] Tipperary while attempting to remove a tree downed by the storm.”