After analyzing bones found during work on a light-rail station in Montreal, an archaeological lab has revealed new details about the lives of Irish migrants who died there in 1847.
The 2019 archeological dig in Pointe-Sainte-Charles — where the Irish fleeing the potato famine were quarantined and, if they did not survive, buried — revealed 14 bodies, including seven adults, three teenagers, and four children.
The results of the analysis showed the deceased had suffered from fractures, bacterial infections, chronic diseases, and signs of malnutrition.
Archaeologist Marine Puech said most were from rural southwestern Ireland, and the lab was able to pinpoint their time of death to between August and September of 1847.
These 14 victims were among the 6,000 Irish buried in a mass grave in Pointe-Sainte-Charles. The Black Rock, one of the oldest Famine memorials, was erected by the Irish construction workers who discovered the remains while they were building Victoria Bridge close by. Most of those buried died of typhus.
The remains will soon be sent to a lab in Trois-Rivières where the DNA will be sequenced in the hopes of finding living descendants.
Read more about the findings in the CBC News report, Bone analysis provides window into lives of Montreal’s Irish potato famine migrants.
