Archaeological excavations under way in advance of major development at South Great Georges Street /Steven's Street, Dublin revealed the partial remains of a single human burial on Wednesday 6th August 2003.
The excavation was undertaken under licence to The Dept of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government on behalf of, and funded by, Dunnes Stores.
Between Wednesday and Friday the excavation director, Linzi Simpson, (of Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd. Archaeological Consultants to Dunnes Stores) supervised a team in an investigation that confirmed the burial was indeed a Viking warrior.
The warrior was buried in a shallow grave with his shield on his chest and his knife on his left hand side. The remains of black staining in the soil suggest the presence of a burned timber. It is likely that the skeleton was originally accompanied by a sword (on the right hand side) but, unfortunately, the lower legs and probably the sword, were removed by activity in the past.
The Viking was buried on the southern bank of the 'Great Pool' of Dubh Linn (which gave Dublin its name). The Pool now largely underlies the gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle and is thought to have been the focus of early settlement and raiding activity by the Vikings prior to the creation of the Viking town as we know it, which lies west of Parliament Street.
This theory is more recently supported by the discovery last year of another single warrior burial (also unfortunately disturbed in antiquity) at Ship Street Great, a short distance to the west of South Great Georges Street and on the west side of the Pool. In spite of its disturbed condition the remains of part of a Viking sword were found with it, together with a collection of 'keepsake'-type objects around the neck. These included a silver finger ring, a twisted ring and a bead.
After much professional interest from archaeologists at the National Museum of Ireland, the City Archaeologist and the licencing staff of the Dept. the burial was encased in plaster and was carefully lifted on Friday 8th August 2003 for detailed examination in the company's conservation laboratory.
This discovery brings to seven the total number of individual Viking warrior burials found in Dublin. Five of these were found in the 19th century, but none were archaeologically excavated and recorded. They were found at Donnybrook, Bride Street, Kildare Street, Cork Street and on the north side of the river at Dollymount.
Update: 10.09.03
Three more burials have been discovered on the site at Georges Street. No grave goods accompany these but the orientation suggests they are also Vikings.
