Remains of nearly 800 babies, children could be in waste tank at nun-run Irish unwed mother-and-baby home
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Crews in Ireland began work this week to excavate the site of a former church-run home for unmarried women and their babies to identify the remains of what's expected to be around 800 infants and young children who died there.

The home, which was run by an order of Catholic nuns and closed in 1961, was one of many such institutions that housed tens of thousands of orphans and unmarried pregnant women who were forced to give up their children throughout much of the 20th century.

In 2014, historian Catherine Corless tracked down death certificates for nearly 800 children who died at the home in Tuam between the 1920s and 1961 — but could only find a burial record for one child.

  • Duamerthrax@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    8 days ago

    DNA analysis found that the ages of the dead ranged from 35 weeks gestation to 3 years.

    Ok, atrocities aside, how the hell can you tell age from DNA? DNA doesn’t change as you age.

    • Machinist@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 days ago

      Telomere length is the only thing I can think of, but that’s totally a guess and I don’t know much about it. Telomeres, as I understand it, are padding at the end of DNA and shorten as you age.