A human burial came to light along the northern face of the tombolo at Cuan an Mhada, a narrow spit of land that connects what was once a freestanding rocky island to the mainland. It is the kind of place where the geography itself carries a history, and where erosion does the work of excavation.

The burial was found at a depth of 1.1 metres from the surface of the eroding dunes. The body had been laid on its back in an extended position, oriented north to south with the head placed to the south, an unusual arrangement since early Christian burials in Ireland typically follow an east-west alignment with the head to the west. There was no grave cut, the deliberate digging of a pit that normally leaves a visible outline in the surrounding soil, which suggests the body was simply laid on a deposit of dark soil and then covered with sand. Analysis of the skull bones, specifically the degree to which they had fused together, indicated that the remains belonged to a mature adult, possibly a female, according to information from the National Museum of Ireland in February 2016. No date for the burial has been established, and without associated grave goods or further analysis, the identity and period of interment remain open questions.