8th-Century Settlement Discovered Southwest of Dublin

SALLINS, IRELAND—Archaeologists working at a bypass construction site near the village of Sallins in County Kildare have made a host of discoveries dating back over 1,000 years, according to a report in the Leinster Leader. Excavations have revealed layers of the area's history from post-medieval roads to prehistoric cremations, including evidence of an 8th-century settlement on the banks of the River Liffey. According to Noel Dunne, an archaeologist with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the enclosure complex is marked by a series of roughly six-and-a-half-foot-deep ditches and has produced artifacts such as rings, pins, a book clasp with a design similar to the St. Brigid's cross, and the remains of a very large guard dog. To read more about the archaeology of early medieval Ireland, go to “The Vikings in Ireland.”