No infant remains have been recovered so far following initial excavation works at the site of the former Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co Galway.
Details regarding the initial excavation in the area have been released six weeks after the works began.
In an update covering that period, the Office of the Director of Authorised Intervention in Tuam (ODAIT) says a single fragment of a human adult tooth has been found.
Large amounts of animal bone have also been retrieved, along with "numerous personal items" dating from the time the institution operated. These include shoes, glass baby bottles and spectacles.
Excavation work to date has focused on two areas at the perimeter of the site, where it is thought there is a "low likelihood of human remains being present".
All evidence recovered is being photographed, catalogued and retained by the ODAIT.
Following lengthy preparatory work, the excavation commenced in mid July.
The entire process of excavating, exhuming, cataloging and identifying infant remains is likely to take at least two years to complete.
Initial work involves the gradual removal of surface soil and coverings, allowing specialist archeologists to examine the grounds.
Their task is complicated by the differing uses the site has had over the last 200 years.
A workhouse was constructed there in the 1840s and it was subsequently used as by the British military and the Irish Army, before the Mother and Baby Home opened in 1925.
Following the closure of the institution in 1961, a housing estate was constructed in and around the area in question.
The ODAIT has said that objects from all these periods have been found so far.
The Forensic Excavation Team includes four forensic archaeologists, four osteoarchaeologists and forensic anthropologists, as well as a forensic evidence manager and a forensic photographer.
Today's update is the first in what will be a monthly briefing to families, survivors and the wider public.
