Look, medieval coffin nails!

In Ireland, graveyards were often used over and over, people being buried on top of each other without rhyme or reason. This was the case in one little churchyard in Kinfenora, Co. Clare. There had been a recent burial, and the archaeologist who was leading my group around stooped down to examine the freshly dug dirt. "Look, medieval coffin nails!" he said, and held one up. I kept 2 as a souvenir. The chunks at the top of this picture once looked like the bottom nail; in the 9 years I've had these, they have crumbled to bits.