Introduction

Though it is generally agreed that the area around modern Dublin has seen human activity for the last seven to eight thousand years, there is some dispute about the age of the Liffey-side settlement itself. Certainly the Viking foundation of the city in 841 AD marks an important point in its history, but long before the Vikings arrived here the area was home to a number of settlements of some importance. Further confusion was caused by the Millenium celebrations of 1988 which were based not on the Viking encampment but on the first imposition of taxes by the Irish king M·el Sechnaill almost 150 years later.

Quite apart from the fact that the anniversary of tax laws is itself a strange cause for celebration in any city's life, the date chosen was not even accurate. Because of an error in the chronology of the 15th century Annals of Ulster, the imposition of taxes by M·el Sechnaill is recorded as taking place a year earlier than it occurred in reality-- ie 988 rather than the actual 989. (The same annalists, it should be pointed out, when they later realised their mistake, simply omitted a year altogether and carried on regardless!) To get a real sense of the city's age, then, it may be useful to take a brief trip back to a time when Dublin was still only an occasional, perhaps even a seasonal, settlement.