Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Qupperneq 50

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Qupperneq 50
Frans-Arne Stylegar SOME NOTES ON EARTHWORKS AND DYKES IN ICELAND AND IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC The paper discusses some similarities between substantial earthworks in Suður- Þingeyjarsýsla (presented in Archls vol 2) and the 'great chains' of hill dykes formd in W Norway and in the Scottish Northem isles. It is suggested that the sim- ilarities between the three systems of earthworks are caused by their originating from a similar settlement structure and farming system in the Early Medieval peri- od, and that this system was introduced in the North Atlantic after Scandinavian, specifically W Norwegian, models. Frans-Arne Stylegar, Vest-Agder Jylkeskommune, Serviceboks 5 N-4605 Kristiansand, Norway E-mail: fransarne.stylegar@vaf.no Keywords: Earthworks, dykes, landnám, settlement structure Introduction A complex system of interconnected earthworks in the county of Suður- Þingeyjarsýsla, NE-Iceland, is discussed in Arch. Isl. vol 2 (Einarsson, Hansson & Vésteinsson 2002). These extensive, turf- built earthworks have been known from this area as well as from other parts of Iceland for a long time; the structures in Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla were discussed by Kristian Kálund as early as in the 1870s (Kálund 1879:164). As there appears to be some interesting similarities between the earthworks in Iceland and structures found in Orkney and Shetland and in W Norway, this paper gives a description of the structures in the latter areas, and sug- gests possible interpretations that could have some relevance for Iceland, as well. Regarding the earthworks in Suður- Þingeyjarsýsla the preliminary, but high- ly interesting conclusion of the above- mentioned study is that they date írom the Middle Ages and form a pattem which suggests they once functioned as boundaries between adjacent farms (the transverse earthworks) and between the farms' homelands and the commons (the horizontal earthworks, see Einarsson, Hansson & Vésteinsson 2002:61). Dykes and earthworks Today, both the Orkney and the W Norwegian farming landscape are char- acterised by many stone fences. But in Archaeologia Islandica 3 (2004) 48-60
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Archaeologia Islandica

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