ANCIENT MAN’S HANDS CUT OFF
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have found the remains of a medieval man whose hands and feet were cut off for insulting the nobility.
The remains were found during a dig near Chancery Lane in Dublin.
The man likely bled to death, and his feet were then mockingly placed to look like large ‘ears’ on either side of his head, while his hands were placed as feet on his body.
His body was then deliberately placed away from the burial grounds of St Michael Le Pole church in Dublin city centre. The remains were found by Archaeological Services Ltd, a company digging on the large commercial site, where the Radisson Blu hotel was planning an extension. The rest of the site was about to be developed by the Rhatigan construction company.
The man likely lived in 13th-century Dublin. His body was found with that of another man, who was not dismembered, about 20 metres from an old limestone quarry.
Archaeologist Alan Heyden said the find was the first of its kind in Ireland. ‘It is very rare. There is another example of this in Portugal, but this is the first we know of in Ireland. The man’s remains will now become the property of the State,’ he told the Irish Daily Mail. ‘It was quite distinctive to see the feet placed as ears on either side of his head. He likely insulted someone in the nobility and he was allowed to bleed to death. Placing him outside the sacred ground of the graveyard was another insult.
Mr Heyden and his team also found animals in the site, including dogs, a cock and several cats, dating from the 12th to 19th centuries.