Specialist forensics have confirmed that a single fragment of a human adult tooth has been found on the site of the former Tuam mother and baby home, the Irish Examiner can confirm.
Personal items dating from the period of the home’s operation between 1925 and 1961, including shoes, spectacles and glass baby bottle feeders have also been recovered.
Large amounts of animal bone have been located on site, which the intervention team carrying out the country’s first ever exhumation said is “likely from the institution, military and workhouse kitchens”.
In the first update since breaking the ground at former Catholic Run institution for unmarried mothers six weeks ago, the Director of the Intervention Daniel MacSweeney said:
Expert osteoarchaeologists have confirmed that a single fragment of a dissociated human adult tooth has been found in the upper stratigraphy which is currently undergoing analysis.
Large amounts of animal bone have been retrieved, much of this is likely from the institution, military, and workhouse kitchens.
Test Trenches uncovered numerous personal items dating from the institutional era, including shoes, spectacles, and glass baby bottle feeders.
The lower soil layers in these trenches contained glass bottles, likely of pre-institutional date, possibly military era, and a chamber pot.
Ancient and unrelated material (medieval pottery) has also been found mixed through the more recent deposits.
Mr MacSweeney said all evidence recovered is being “photographed, catalogued, and retained by the Office of the Director of the Intervention at Tuam (ODAIT)”.
He said In the first six weeks, the excavation has focused on two areas, the site of a former workhouse yard (outlined in blue in the picture) and the high stone boundary wall at the eastern side of the site (outlined in yellow).
Tuam site, 20th August 2025 (red arrow shows North).
Machine excavation “commenced in the former yard of the workhouse, adjacent to the playground to the northeast of the site, while hand excavation was undertaken in the form of Test Trenches abutting the 19th century boundary wall”.
The excavations have uncovered materials from four main eras in the site’s history:
Post-institutional: 1961 onwards, i.e. the period since the mother and baby Institution ceased operating at this site.
Institutional: 1925 to 1961, i.e. the period during which the mother and baby Institution was operational.
Military: 1918 to 1925. During the War of Independence and Irish Civil War era, the location was used first by the British Army and then by the Irish National Army.
Workhouse: 1841 to 1918. The building was originally built as a workhouse in 1841.
In addition, Mr MacSweeney said: “The upper stratigraphy of the site is composed of a modern topsoil closely associated with construction deposits from the 1970s.
“This highlights the complexity of the site and confirms the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention, Tuam’s (ODAIT’s) expectations that materials found at the site would date from several different eras.”
Pictured are samples of selection of glass bottles recovered in the first six weeks of excavation.
The families of the children who died in the home as well as survivors, were notified of the findings by Mr MacSweeney on Friday morning.
The exhumation began on July 14, more than a decade after the story first broke in 2014.
It comes following the research of local historian Catherine Corless, who uncovered the names of 796 children who died in the former Catholic run mother and baby home in Tuam Co. Galway.
The children were discovered to be buried in a disused septic tank on the grounds of the former institution long after the Bons Secours nuns moved out of the town.
The institution housed unmarried mothers as well as families who could not provide for their children and was overseen by Galway County Council.
Pictured is ancient and unrelated (medieval) pottery recovered in the first six weeks of excavation. Photo: ODAIT
Test excavations in October 2016 and January 2017 found a “significant quantity” of human remains in a septic tank, that were aged between 35 foetal weeks and 2-3 years.
The remains were tested at a laboratory and were those of children who died in the home between 1925 and 1961.
Forensic specialist Oran Finegan, who is involved in the landmark intervention at the Tuam babies’ burial site, has said the “children’s bones will be able to tell their own story, if they are given a chance”.
