An archaeological dig at Christchurch Place results in significant discoveries about life and trade in Dublin past.
For the past number of years ongoing archaeological excavations at Winetavern Street and High Street in Dublin city centre have yielded much information about life in tenth to twelfth century Dublin.
Nearby Christchurch Place is the next location which will offer even more insights into the lives of the people who lived in this walled town during the middle ages.
Professor Brendan O'Riordan from the National Museum of Ireland describes the site as an area of significance in Dublin’s mediaeval history. The artefacts found include a pewter brooch, a Viking era sword, bone pins, pottery vessels from Bordeaux and Anglo-Saxon coins.
The archaeological evidence is consistent with written accounts in mediaeval Irish, Scandinavian and Arabic literature about Dublin, and strongly indicates that Dublin was a city with trading links to cities in England, continental Europe and Scandinavia, says O’Riordan,
Before the Norman Invasion Dublin was very much an international port.
The other Norse towns in Ireland at that time were at Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick.
Up to now there has not been a great deal of research carried out on daily life of this era in Ireland. As Professor O’Riordan explains, it is only by excavating sites and examining what is being unearthed that archaeologists and historians can piece together a picture of how people lived back then,
It is very well preserved, and we can enforce...what is in our history books about the past.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 16 January 1973. The reporter is Donal Kelly.
