The contribution of insect remains to an understanding of the environment of Viking-age and medieval Dublin

This paper examines the important contribution that sub-fossil insect remains
can make to an understanding of the environment of Viking-age and medieval
Dublin. The study of insect remains is one aspect of the increasingly important
area of environmental archaeology and can contribute to a more holistic
understanding of archaeological contexts. Environmental archaeology seeks to
use other scientific disciplines to answer classic archaeological questions of the
'why, how and what' of prehistoric and historic human activity. Environmental
archaeology has a particularly significant role to play in the interpretations of
urban sites because the matrix of these sites is made up primarily of organic
remains – plants, wood, insects, animal bone, shell.
So what of insects in particular? What can they tell us about the prevailing
micro- and macro-level environmental conditions in Dublin during the Viking
and medieval periods? About the use of structures at a macro-level? About the
use of domestic space within structures? About the use of hinterland
resources? About the seasonality of that use? And about the hinterland itself
and the nature of the landscape around the town? The study of insects can
contribute to the answer to all of these questions, particularly as part of an
integrated environmental/archaeological strategy, and a number of case
studies will be presented in this paper to illustrate this. However, it is important
to start with a brief introduction to the subject as a whole and its
development and subsequent contribution to urban archaeological research.