Archaeologists are in disagreement over the origins of the site previously thought to have been established by Vikings at Woodstown on the Suir Estuary in Co Waterford.
Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has ordered the preservation of the site on the basis that it is a 1,200-year-old Viking settlement of international significance. This will lead to a rerouting of the €200 million Waterford city bypass.
While archaeologists accept that the site was inhabited by Vikings, some argue that the settlement was in fact established by early Christians.
Speaking at an archaeology seminar organised by the National Roads Authority (NRA) in Dublin's Gresham Hotel yesterday, Donald Murphy, a site director with archaeologists AES Ltd, said that while the Woodstown site was thought to have been Viking in origin, it was in fact much earlier.
This analysis was described as "complete nonsense" by the Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum, Ned Kelly, who said that not a single object had been found which "could be described as anything but Viking".
However, Mr Murphy was supported by the NRA's chief archaeologist, Daire O'Rourke, who said that radio-carbon dating indicated an early Christian layer beneath the Viking remains.
The radio-carbon testing is to be repeated in an attempt to clarify the origin of the settlement.
Brochures detailing the archaeological remains discovered along all NRA routes were distributed at the seminar. While some of the routes had illustrated commentaries, the proposed M3 motorway through the Tara/Skryne valley was not featured.
