Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 25

ZOOARCHAEOLOGY, HlSTORY AND LANDSCAPE ArCHAEOLOGY AT FlNNBOGASTAÐIR IN THE 18tH CENTURY
from in situ contexts and to draw pro-
files. The total area excavated was 1.1 m
x 3.0m, and extended 80 cm below mod-
em ground surface. The work in 1990
completed only the rescue excavation
necessary for the driveway extension but
did not reach the base of the archaeolog-
ical deposit in any area. All excavated
material was sieved through 4 mm mesh
dry mesh, including the spoil heap creat-
ed by the initial non-archaeological exca-
vation. Artifacts recovered (ceramics and
a single kaolin pipe stem) indicate that
the deposits sampled extend from the
early 18th to early 19th centuries, with
the most productive context (context 6)
probably dating to the first quarter of the
18th century (Amorosi 1996).
Finnbogastaðir is a substantial archaeo-
logical site, with much more extensive
deposits directly around the modem farm
building. This small rescue excavation
provides only a very partial sample of the
later phases of the farm midden deposits,
and has all the limitations of a small-
scale trench excavation. However, the
rich midden layers did produce a quan-
tifiable archaeofauna with an identified
bone count (NISP) of 6,410 fragments
out of a total collection (TNF) of 7,379
bone fragments, providing the basis for
an initial discussion of economic strate-
gies in the early modem period at this
farm and material for comparison to 18th
century documentary records and land-
scape archaeology (see Perdikaris et al
2003 for the full zooarchaeological
report).
Taphonomic Evidence
The taphonomic indicators (degree of
fragmentation, carnivore and rodent
gnawing, buming) of the 18th century
archaeofauna showed strong similarities
to contemporary collections from Iceland
(discussion in Perdikaris et al 2003). The
deposits seem to have the same general
character (accretional deposition of
domestic refuse, hearth cleaning, and
craft debris) as other Icelandic middens
and are thus probably generally compara-
ble to other collections of similar size.
Overview of Species Present
Table 1 presents the fragment count for
all bone-bearing contexts at
Finnbogastaðir, including the unstratified
(00) sieved spoil of the initial machine
excavation. As table 4 indicates, the great
majority of the in situ bone collected
came from the densely packed context
(layer) 11 and from the unstratified spoil
already disturbed by the machine excava-
tion, which almost certainly also largely
derived from context 11. As it was clear
in the field that the bone from the spoil
came entirely from this unit and the time
range (18th century) suggested by the
artifact collection is fairly restricted, it
seems reasonable to treat the archaeofau-
na as a unit (with the understanding that
the great majority of the bone derives
from the earlier half of the century).
Figure 2 presents the overall distribution
of identified bone fragments (% NISP),
which are made up mainly of fish bone
but with significant numbers of domestic
and wild mammals, birds and mollusca.
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