1971:16 - DUBLIN CITY, Dublin

A. Winetavern St.

At Winetavern Street excavation of early 11th- to mid-9th-century strata over the remainder of the site, which was under investigation since 1969, was completed. Further structural features of an early 11th-century post-and-wattle house (House 21/2) discovered in 1970 were revealed. The house measured 6m in length (N-S) and 5m in width (E-W). Approximately midway in the northern sidewall there was a well-preserved doorway; both door jambs were, on average, 20cm wide and 10cm thick and had a groove cut in their outer faces. The innermost of the two horizontal bands of wattlework forming the sidewalls had been slotted into the grooves. The entrance was 90cm wide and had a wooden threshold, 90cm long and 8cm wide. The receiver for a wooden pivot, on which the door swivelled, was found in position close to the inner face of the western jamb. The presence of a dowel hole bored through the thickness of each jamb suggests that originally the doorway was provided with a low board fixed on edge and running across the bottom on the inside which may have acted as a stop for the door itself+. A number of doorways with intact features of this type were found in 11th- and 10th-century levels at High Street. (Pivot posts and thresholds of this type have been found also at Hedeby, Germany: see Kurt Schietzel, Ausgrabungen in Haithabu (Neumunster, 1969), I, 28-33, Pls. 17-19).

In 10th-century levels a boundary fence of post-and-wattle construction, which stood to a height of 30cm and of which a length in excess of 14m (running E-W) existed, was uncovered, The uprights of the fence, which were on average 7-9cm thick, were spaced 20-26cm apart.

Features of a house or workshop (44/2) with walls formed of closely set timber planks came to light in the earliest habitation level on the site. In this example the main floor area, which was rectangular in shape, measuring 4.4m long and 1.6m wide, was deeply sunken below the normal ground surface of the period; it was, on average, 1m below the upper surface of the boulder clay. Some of the timber planks forming the sidewalls remained to a height of 30-50cm above floor level; they varied from 17-30cm in width and 3-5cm in thickness. The long axis of the structure was orientated N-S. In the northern end-wall there was a well defined doorway, 70cm wide, which had two timber thresholds– one lying between the positions of the jambs, the other placed at a slightly lower level (7cm) immediately inside the entrance. The main threshold had been carefully made and it was provided with open mortices to accommodate the door jambs. Only one of the jambs had survived, that on the western side, and it measured 26cm wide and 5cm thick. Immediately outside the entrance, i.e. north of the doorway, there was a porch-like feature, 1m square, sloping upwards from the level of the threshold.

Finds from the immediate area and from the subsequent fill of the structure included a bronze strap-tag of Anglo-Saxon type, a decorated needle case of Viking type, a large double-sided decorated comb, fragments of amber, wooden barrel staves, a baked clay crucible (complete) and fragments of others.

Immediately below the level containing the earliest habitation material a shallow grave dug in the underlying boulder clay was discovered. It contained an extended skeleton orientated E-W, skull at the East. No grave goods accompanied it nor did the fill of the grave, which was free of habitation material, help to indicate its period of deposition.

A number of pits dug into boulder clay and connected with the settlement on the site in its earlier stages contained animal food bones, charcoal and other material. Some may have been used as storage pits as many lacked the manure-like matter, fruit stones and other organic material normally found in pits of later date which had been used as cesspits and general refuse pits.

Other finds from the excavation included bone combs, bronze pins, iron nails, fish-hooks and needles and, in 9th-10th-century levels in particular, evidence of metalworking, including strands of bronze and gold wire, crucible fragments and vitreous matter.

The excavation of a timber-lined pit (Pit 6/1) from which fragments of glass and glazed potsherds had been recovered in 1969 was completed. The timber structure, 194cm N-S, 1.26m E-W and 1.30cm high (maximum dimensions), consisted of a frame of four corner posts which had horizontal cross-members rabbeted on the outside of the posts. Vertically placed timber, 0.05cm thick and 20cm wide, some edge to edge, others slightly overlapping, had been placed outside the uprights and horizontals to form the timber lining of the container. No floor boards had been provided. Three of the sidewalls of the structure were flush with the undisturbed strata immediately adjoining these faces; on the remaining (western) side, there was evidence to suggest that material had been backfilled to stabilize the structure after it was constructed in the pit dug to receive it.

In the 40-60cm thick stratum overlying the pit a coin identified by Mr. Michael Dolley as an Edward I obole of Bordeaux (c. 1286-1292) and many sherds of glazed pottery were found. The timber structure contained layers of charcoal, fired clay and heavy black soil. The basal layer consisted of a thick deposit of dung-like matter. The nature and disposition of the fill suggest that initially the structure was used as a cesspit and later became a convenient receptacle for general refuse as the fill also contained over 200 sherds of pottery which included Ham Green ware, Bordeaux ware and a sherd of a face jug of distinctive type. In immediate association with the last mentioned, a large collection of pewter tokens (see Michael Dolley and W.A. Seaby, Spink’s Numismatic Circular, December 1971) was found.

B. High St.

At High Street investigation was carried out on that portion of the L-shaped site which lies parallel to High Street and habitation material of the 12th, 11th and earlier centuries was excavated and the underlying boulder clay revealed over much of the area. In 11th-century levels a number of small post-and-wattle structures (3.75m N-S; 3.35m E-W), which are considered to have been workshops, were revealed. Wooden door jambs and features of the thresholds were present in some examples. It is noteworthy that at this period the doorways faced either east or west, whereas in houses of earlier date the entrances faced the south. Boundary fences in post and wattle orientated N-S were present in 11th-century levels and in earlier periods also. A wooden chute or channel running in a N-S direction across the site is considered to date to the 10th century period. It was over 9m long and was composed of four sections. The continuation of this feature lies under habitation material on that portion of the site nearest Back Lane and it is probably that further sections will be uncovered in the course of the 1972 excavation. The chute was 8-15cm wide and 8-13cm high; it was covered by single lengths of planking, the largest of which was 4.36m long, 26cm wide and 6cm thick.

As in former years, considerable numbers of artifacts were discovered. These include bronze pins, bone combs, pieces of textiles, including tablet-woven examples, and many staves of wooden vessels. A significant quantity of amber chippings found immediately above the boulder clay on one portion of the site suggests that the raw material was imported and worked on the site. The making of gaming pieces is also attested as completed examples and the rough-outs for the manufacture of others were found on the floor of an early Viking period house.

Illustrated in Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 15 (1971) forthcoming.