What is recorded here

Lambay Island holds two first-century bodies bent double in the earth, one a warrior clutching an iron sword and shield, the other a woman identified by a mirror. Harbour work in 1927 dragged them from the dark, joining Neolithic axes and painted pots already waiting beneath the island soil. The dead have watched the tide for two thousand years, patient and unburdened by the questions of the living.

During improvements to the harbour in 1927 two crouched inhumations accompanied by objects that date them to the first century AD were discovered. One of these is a warrior with his iron sword and shield and objects such as an iron mirror indicate that a female burial was also present. An extensive range of Neolithic flint artifacts, stone axes, an adze and decorated pottery were discovered at the site (MacAlister, 1929, 240-246; Cooney 2009, 19-20). Geophysical survey (Licence no. 12R078) was carried out by The Discovery programme for the LIARI Project in the vicinity of the burial site. Faint traces of a possible oval feature were identified nearby but cannot be linked in any definitive way with the cemetery (Dowling 2014, 10). Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 31 December 2014

Roman-period inhumation burial, 1st century AD. Significant for its military artifacts, indicating possible Roman or Roman-influenced presence in Ireland during the early imperial period.

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