Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2009, Side 40

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2009, Side 40
Þóra Pétursdóttir they in tandem composed the identity of both. To conclude It is my belief that the assumed poorness of Icelandic Viking Age graves is more a result of the way they have been per- ceived than of their actual nature. The fact is that the graves themselves have rarely been the focus of research, and hence the lack, I argue, is not in the mate- rial but in its interpretation. The signifi- cance or richness of a grave does not emerge from its distinct parts - things, bodies or animals in isolation - but from their collective and entangled material presence. The way the graves have usu- ally been handled, split up and sorted out, has therefore prevented one from seeing their immediate complexity and interpre- tive potential. Furthermore, the focus on parallelism and questions concerning “other things”, as settlement and origin, has caused a lack of consideration given the material itself. However, the graves were not constructed as “time capsules”, capturing and reílecting a moment in a certain past. They came into being through complex and dynamic ritual per- formances, involving interaction between things and humans, the living and dead. In order to say something about the value and character of the material we need to reorient our focus to what it actually comprises and engage with the graves as they appear - as entangled collectives, “simple”, “poor” or whatever, and then try to “read” or rework the relations dis- played. There is, as mentioned by Gerd Aarsland Rosander (1992, 15), a “secret world” between people and things, which we are not able to penetrate directly. However, these graves and their entan- gled parts do give us reason to infer. A change of focus may furthermore empha- size how things that may seem trivial and ordinary can also be socially integrated and important - as on closer look the affluent or spectacular is not always what counts but what actually is there. Note: This paper is based on the anthor ’s MA thesis: Þóra Pétursdóttir (2007) „Deyr fé, deyja frændr“. Re-animating mortuary remains from Viking Age Iceland. MA-Thesis in Archaeology. Department of Social Science, University of Tromso. Retrievable at: http://www. ub. uit. no/munin/bitstream/1003 7/1165/3/ thesis.pdf Referencees Bruun, D. and Jónsson, F. (1910) ‘Dalvík- fundet. En gravplads fra hedenska- bets tid pá Island’, Aarboger nordisk oldkyndighed og historie 25, 62-100. Böðvarsson, J. (ed.) (1971) Brennu-Njáls saga, Reykjavík: Prentsmiðja Jóns Helgasonar. Eldjám, K. (1948) Gengið á reka: Tólf fornleifaþættir, Akureyri: Bókaútgáfan Norðri. Eldjám, K. (1956) Kuml og haugfé: Ur heiðnum sið á Islandi, Akureyri: Bókaútgáfan Norðri. Eldjám, K. (1958) ‘Viking Archaeology in Iceland’, in: Þriðji Víkingafundur. Third Viking Congress, Reykjavík 1956. Published with Arbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags 1958. Eldjám, K. (1966) ‘Kuml úr heiðnum sið, fúndin á síðustu árum’, Arbók hins íslenzka fornleifafélags 1965, 5-68. Eldjám, K. (1981) ‘Orð í belg um íslen- ska hestinn og uppruna hans’, Eiðfaxi 4, 4-6. 38 J

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