Bones found in newly discovered Nephin cave to be examined

GRISLY DISCOVERY Some of the bones happened upon by local hillwalker Michael Chambers.


Anton McNulty

BONES found in a newly discovered cave in the Nephin Range above Newport have been sent for testing to determine how old they are and if they are human or animal remains.
The bones were discovered by Michael Chambers who came across the find after stumbling across a previously unknown cave in the hills above his home village of Shramore outside Newport.
The outdoor enthusiast was walking in the hills a few weeks ago when he saw a fox and after following it, he came across an opening in the rock face. After squeezing his way into the gap, he noticed that it opened into a long tunnel.
When he went up with a group of friends, he made the discovery of the bones and decided to contact the Gardaí in order to have them tested. It is not known if the fragments of the bones are human and they were collected by gardaí last week with the intention of having them tested by anthropologists to determine their age and origin.
Michael explained that nobody in the vicinity knew about the caves before this and it would not be difficult to go by them without noticing them. It is not known when they were last explored by humans but Michael added that he knows there are more caves in the hills.
His grandfather was a guide for the local IRA in the War of Independence and he used to hide local volunteers in them and heard stories of their existence.
“Nobody knew anything about these caves before and you would walk right by them because they are that hard to see. Farmers who had sheep in the hills did not know anything about them. My grandfather was a guide during the War of Independence and would bring the rebels to the caves and two years ago I came across two similar caves,” he said.
The caves are expected to be explored by experts in the coming weeks to see if they will unveil anymore hidden secrets.