EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Dublin
Fig. 120: Plan of Type 5 House (after Wallace 1992b, 58).
The Type 2 buildings were sub-rectangular in plan, with pronounced rounded corners, and were
smaller than Type 1 structures with an average area of 15m 2 (Fig. 118). They were not aisled and
rarely had formal fireplaces. The door was usually in the sidewall and the walls were generally formed
with a double line of post-and-wattle. Only a small percentage of the Dublin buildings were of this
type (Wallace 1992a, 14–6).
Wallace’s Type 3 (1992a 16–7) are typically slimmer and shorter versions of Type 1 structures that
were built in narrow and smaller plots. Type 4 buildings are sunken structures in which the floor is
situated below ground level (Wallace 1992a, 17; Fig. 119). They are generally rare in Dublin but have
been found from the earliest ninth century levels. Type 5 structures describe small huts without roof
supports which probably functioned as animal pens or were utilised for other outdoor activities
(Wallace 1992a, 17–8; Fig. 120).
Ninth Century
Scully’s excavations at Exchange Street Upper/Parliament Street in the north-eastern area of the
settlement revealed a number of phases and the first included four structures dating between the mid
ninth and tenth centuries (Gowen with Scully 1996, 11–5). Structure A – orientated north-south –
was the most clearly defined and is suggestive of Wallace’s Type 1 structures. Two parallel rows of
stake-holes formed a central aisle and a posthole on its western side demarcated the entrance. It
contained a centrally placed stone-set hearth and a paved area was evident in its north-eastern
corner. It measured approximately 5.5m in length by 3-3.5m wide. Finds included a copper-alloy
implement, a wooden barrel stave and a bone comb. Importantly, the latter has been found in late
ninth century contexts from other Irish and overseas excavations. The comb was found on a clay
layer alongside animal bone and the latter produced a date of AD 690-888. This further strengthens
the likelihood of a pre-tenth century date for the house’s construction and occupation. The house was
not associated with any plots or boundaries.
The partial remains of three other structures were revealed at Exchange Street Upper/Parliament
Street. They replaced Structure A and were located within property plots. A sample of wattle retrieved
from one of the walls (Structure B) was dated to A.D. 779-983 (Gowen with Scully 1996, 14). A bone
pin recovered from the same level is comparable to pins from ninth-century Kaupang, Norway.
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