1970:17 - DUBLIN: High Street/Winetavern Street, Dublin

Excavations by the National Museum of Ireland at High Street and Winetavern Street, Dublin, continued during 1970. Twelfth century levels at High Street some further interesting examples of bone trial pieces with panels of interlaced motifs of Hiberno-Viking type and a number of coins. Other finds included portion of a leather waist-coat, leather shoes, bronze pins, iron keys and some bone gaming pieces.

At Winetavern Street strata of the eleventh to late ninth centuries were investigated. A number of post and wattle house fragments, hearths and wooden pathways were uncovered at various levels. One large spread of wattle work which could not be interpreted as collapsed house walls probably represents a foundation used in levelling up parts of the area prior to re-building on it in the tenth century. Evidence for some wooden structures of stave-like construction also came to light and one large worked beam displays features similar to examples found in houses of log construction in Northern Europe. Finds of objects from the various levels were extremely numerous and these include lathe-turned bowls and rectangular dishes hollowed out of a single piece of wood. A quantity of pottery, much of it unglazed, appears to be of French origin; this occurred in eleventh century levels. Many of the finds from the tenth century have parallels in Viking sites in the Scottish islands and in Scandinavia. These include a number of bone pins with carved animal heads, fragments of soapstone vessels and a portion of a mould for casting silver ingots. A find of particular importance is a small open-worked quadrangular bronze brooch which is paralleled in an example of burial in Norway, in a Viking grave at Birka near Stockholm and in examples found in the excavations at Hedeby in Schleswig. Other finds from Winetavern Street include many examples of bone combs, bronze pins, spindle whorls, fragments of textiles, delicate pieces of knitting, bone trial pieces, leather shoes and a variety of iron objects, fishing hooks, barrel padlock keys and needles.

Analysis of this material has produced a considerable amount of information on the food and agriculture of the period. The excavations are expected to continue on both sites in 1971.