Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1954, Page 64

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GRAVE 2. A middle-aged man’s grave, head SW, position as shown on
fig. 3. The following grave-goods (fig. 4):
a. Iron spear-head. of the type Vikingesverd fig. 21.
b. Iron knife.
c. Whetstone with a hole near one end.
d. Piece of jasper.
e. Fire-steel, somewhat damaged, Rygh 426.
f—i. Small, unimportant things from the man’s pouch.
j. Glass bead, worn on a band round the neck.
k. Iron penannular brooch with balls formed like animals’ heads.
GRAVE 3. A middle-aged woman’s grave, covered by a layer of stones
(fig. 5), the grave itself 2 m long, 1 m wide and 50 cm deep from the stone-layer.
Orientation as in grave 2, probably position also. Grave-goods (fig. 6):
a. 6 beads, one made of some kind of stone, 5 glass beads.
b—c. Iron nails and hasp of a small trunk.
d. Iron knife.
e. 3 bits of quartz.
GRAVE 4. This grave was 3,70 m long and 1 m wide. In it were buried a
grown-up man and his horse, the man in the SW-end, the horse at his feet (fig. 8).
Grave-goods (fig. 9):
a. Double-edged iron sword oi the type Vikingesverd fig. 111. Remnants of
the scabbard visible.
b. Iron axe of the type Vikingesverd fig. 38 — 42.
c. Iron shield-boss, Rygh 563.
d. Iron spear-head, fragmentary.
e. Iron knife.
f. Two leaden weights, one square, one circular.
g—i. Piece of iron and two small stones.
With the skeleton of the horse the following things were found:
j. Iron bridle-bit.
k. 5 nails from a saddle.
l. Iron buckle from the girdle of a saddle.
The burial-field at Sílastaðir forms a valuable addition to the relatively few
Icelandic Viking graves. These four graves are all inhumation graves as might
be expected in Iceland, where no cremation graves at all have been found. Cer-
tainly the graves are all from the loth century. Remarkable are the many iron
things and the complete sets of weapons rarely found in Icelandic Viking graves.