KILKENNY, IRELAND—Four well-preserved skeletons dating to the medieval period were found just 14 inches below the surface in the graveyard at St. Mary’s Church. The site is the home of the Medieval Mile Museum, in an area designated for a service trench. The skeletons are thought to represent a woman around the age of 25; a woman in her teens or early 20s, who had a damaged spine and one leg that was shorter than the other; and two children around eight years old, one of whom probably had a severe iron deficiency. “The four skeletons can be dated to circa A.D. 1250-1350 based on pottery found in their graves, meaning they are of the first few generations of Anglo-Norman colonists in Kilkenny,” Cóilín Ó Drisceoil of Kilkenny Archaeology said in a UTV Ireland report. He explained that the location of the burials and the lack of coffins suggests that they were poor people. The excavators found green stains on the bones that may have been left by copper-alloy shroud pins. The remains will be removed for further study, but may eventually be returned to St. Mary’s for burial. To read about another skeleton found in Ireland, go to "Irish Roots."