Ireland's Great Famine lasted from 1845 to 1849, a period wherein about one million people died. Because of the excessive number of deaths and extreme poverty, many families were unable to provide a wake or proper burial for loved ones and used mass graves instead. Archaeological excavations have taken place on Irish mass burial sites. One excavation revealed a mass grave of nearly 1,000 individuals. The skeletons within the grave were layered on top of each other in multiple sub-rectangular pits positioned less than a meter apart.