As Pat Wallace stood in the shadow of Dublin’s Christ Church Cathedral in 1974, the view that lay before him was truly spectacular. It was not the soaring religious building that held his attention, though, but something a little closer to the earth. And, at the age of just 25, Wallace had been placed in charge of the entire investigation. The discoveries came to light because the Dublin Corporation (now Dublin City Council) had selected Wood Quay as the site of its new headquarters, and it was not a project without controversy. The window that it opens on early medieval Dublin is set to transform our understanding of Viking Age towns.