Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1959, Side 83

GRÖF í ÖRÆFUM
85
floor between the benches is somewhat sunk and there is a kind of a fire place
on it but for the most part the floor is paved with stones and looks very
rough. The east part of the hall has not the same characteristics as the west
part, but it seems as if the floor was extended into that part also, and probably
there were sleeping benches along the side walls and a narrower sitting bench
at the gable. At least the west part of the hall was wainscotedi The hall of
course was the sleeping house of all the people on the farm.
In the living room the west end also was divided from the rest of the room
by a wooden partition wall. In the front room there are sitting benches along
three sides, and here the people of the farm sat at their work during the
day time, not least the women. The weaving loom may have been situated in
the back room.
In the lavatory the floor must liave consisted for the most part of wooden
planks under which there was a basin which opened out into the above men-
tioned sewer. In the west wall of the house there is an opening through which
the brook in all probability was led and made to run down into the basin
under the floor and then along the sewer. The brook would then have sup-
plied the farm with fresh water and carried off refuse and rubbish.
In the bathroom a fire place was built into the wall to the left of the door,
and many small stones lay above the ashes. These pebbles were more or less
cracked as a result of violent heating succeeded by sudden cooling, when
water was sprinkled on them as well as on the walls of the fire place. Traces
of a wide bench were visible along the north wall, and probably there were
narrower benches at the east and south walls. Spindle whorls and whetstones
found in the bathroom may indicate that the house was not exclusively used
for damp bathing though such was no doubt its main function.
The house marked YI is here defined as kitchen only because of the thick
layer of ashes covering the floor but the fire place was of a very simple
kind and the features of the house are vague.
In the pantry there is a small fire place in the north-east corner and traces
of benches and shelves were seen along the north and south walls. On the
shelves there were the remnants of a stave tub, and in the floor there was
an impression of a wooden vessel. Ashes were stamped into the floor.
There are 6 fire places in all in the farm houses. Two of them, in the
kitchen and the living room, were simple, in fact the fire had been made directly
on the floor, possibly sheltered by movable stones. In the floor of the living
room there is a hole full of ashes. In this hole the fire probably was covered
up overnight. The nature of the ashes seems to indicate that birch was the
main fuel, and as usual the ashes were thickly mingled with burnt bones.
Dung and peat were also used as fuel to some degree. The fire piace in the
hall, the hearth, is formed as a shallow trough, full of rubbish, and it looks
as if it had not been used for some time preceding the devaBtation of the
farm. Another simple fire place is on the west end of the south bench, con-
sisting of three small flagstones on edge. The fire place or stove in the bath-
room is already described. The ashes in it were remarkably light and con-
tained charred twigs, so birch apparently was used as fuel in the bathroom.