The discovery of a 1,200-year-old Viking fortress at Woodstown, near Waterford city, has been hailed by a leading historian as "the most significant new find in Viking studies in perhaps a century". Joe Humphreys reports.
Prof Donnchadh Ó Corráin, professor of medieval studies at University College Cork, said the site - home to the largest known Viking river camp, or longphort, in Ireland - was "of international importance".
Archaeologists have unearthed materials used in ship-building during the Viking raids of the mid-ninth century. The remains of a Viking warrior armed with a spear, a sword and a pin have also been recovered.
Prof Ó Corráin said there was a "high possibility" the body belonged to a Danish chieftain called Rothlaibh, or Rodulf, who has a fort named after him at Dunrally, Co Laois.
He said the warrior had evidently been given a pagan burial, adding "there may be 50 graves in there. We do not know. But if there is one there there is the possibility of there being very many more."
The longphort, which dates from 850-870, was believed to have been used as the command headquarters of Rothlaibh who sent raiding parties from Waterford up the Barrow, Nore and Suir rivers. The fortress dates from the second wave of Viking invasions, more than 50 years after the first recorded Viking raid in Ireland at Rathlin Island off the coast of Antrim.
Some historians believe Rothlaibh was the son of Harold, a former king of Denmark who had been expelled from Denmark in 827. According to one theory, Rothlaibh, or Rodulf, left Ireland in or around 862 to lead a group of Vikings on the River Rhine.
Prof Ó Corráin said the Woodstown longphort may have been a base not just for ship-building, but for the trading of slaves. Among the 350 items discovered are weights, measures, locks, chains, nails and a decorative figurine.
Only a small number of longphorts have been discovered in Ireland, most notably at Dunrally; Athlunkard, Co Clare; and Annagassan, Co Louth. None are said to be on the same scale as the Woodstown site, which predates Waterford city.
Prof Ó Corráin added: "This site is as important as Wood Quay in its own way. It is a major site, not just of Irish but of international consequence."