Archaeology: Viking site discovery

Another major Viking site discovered in a tiny village in Annagassan - Ireland - said to be one of the most important Viking sites in the world. It seems a small rural community once housed a Viking winter base there.

We know that Ireland already has a known major Viking Settlement - Dublin - but it appears a second one was found in Annagassan site, 50 miles north of the capital. This place appears in tales, it was thought to be a myth till now; archaeologists started working on these "virgin" grounds and unearthed the truth.

 It was already confirmed that the Linn Duchaill site, beside the river Glyde and south of Dundalk Bay, was where the Vikings brought their long ships or longphorts to be repaired. It was also the base for inland raids as far as Longford and into the north all the way to Armagh. However, it was eventually abandoned as a port due to poor tides and a shallow bay;  Linn Duachaill was also a large trading town as the Vikings exported Irish slaves and looted goods. 

The site is untouched, it has not been trashed by a road and it still is a greenfield site, there is no motorway going through it and it is basically a "virgin" territory. It has been husbanded and farmed for the last few hundred years and is unspoilt. It seems to be one of the most important sites of its kind in the world, not just in Europe.

Radio-carbon dating has conclusively shown it is a site of early Viking Age. It is an enormously important discovery because it is of the very earliest period of Viking settlement in Ireland. It was founded in 841 and the Annals of Ulster tell it was used over the next 50 years continuously.