House — Viking/Hiberno-Norse in Unknown Townland

Excavations were undertakenin 1996-1997 within the Viking settlement at Dublin, in the north-east corner. At the lowest level, evidence was found (at Copper Alley) of the foundations of an early rectangular post structure (7m long by 4m wide) with a central hearth, the roof of which was supported by an inner row, oval in shape, of large posts. Several rectangular post-and-wattle houses with tripartite divisions, central hearths and four-post roof supportswere then constructed at the northern (Essex Street West) and south-eastern part of the site. At the south-eastern corner the houses, orientated roughly north-south, appeared domestic in function, with small subsidiary post-and-wattle structure with no hearth linked to the main house by a wattle path. The siteproduced a wide variety of finds, including the usual Viking finds of bone pins, antler combs, bone gaming-pieces, amber pendants, metal dress-pins, quernstones, fragments of leather and textiles. More unusual finds include a collection of walrus ivory pins (including the butchered skull of a walrus), an antler handle with a runic inscription, a panel of delicate gold filigree (possibly from a kite-shaped brooch), a bone trial-piece, and a rib-bone/ruler marked out with the Viking 'inch' (Simpson)