Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1963, Side 60

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
Erlingsson áleit þarna hafa verið baðhús. Daníel Bruun var á sömu
skoðun; þótti þó eins liklegt, að þarna hefði verið smiðja. Eg álít lík-
legra, að þarna hafi verið soðhús, er kunni einnig að hafa verið haft til
að reykja í mat. — Smátóftir suðaustar, í horni milli lækjarins og
eyrarinnar eða flatlendisins neðanundir hlíðinni, álít ég, að kunni að
vera eftir fjós, svo sem Brynjúlfur Jónsson hélt, eða önnur pen-
ingshús. — Engar þessar smátóftir rannsakaði ég.
Að lokinni rannsókn skálatóftarinnar fékk ég Axel Helgason frá
Reykjavík til að athuga hana og gera uppdrátt af henni til þess að
gera af henni eftirlíking úr leir eða líku efni.
Nokkrar ljósmyndir tók ég einnig þennan dag.
Að síðustu fól ég Magnúsi að þekja rústina aftur, fylla gryfjuna
og ganga sem bezt frá öllu aftur næsta dag, en þann dag fór ég aftur
áleiðis til Reykjavíkur.
SUMMARY
„Erik the Red’s farmstead“ at Eirílcsstaðir in Haukadalur.
The present report found among the posthumous papers of the late Professor
Matthías Þórðarson (d. 1961) gives a full account of an excavation carried out by
him in 1938 at Eiríksstaðir in Haukadalur, Dalasýsla. According to the saga Erik
the Red, who later became the first settler of Greenland, built a farm in this
place in the second half of the lOth century. The ruins traditionally pointed out
as Erik’s farmstead have been the object of considerable antiquarian interest,
and were even partially excavated by Þorsteinn Erlingsson and Daniel Bruun.
These two scholars, as well as Brynjúlfur Jónsson, were of the opinion that the
farm had consisted of two oblong houses of equal size, placed side by side with
a partition wall between them. However, serious doubt had been thrown upon
the correctness of such a grouping of ancient Icelandic houses and so Þórðarson
set about re-excavating the site. He came to the conclusion that the „back house"
i.e. one of the two long-houses, was nothing but a misinterpretation of what the
earlier antiquaries saw. In reality one simple oblong house can be seen to have
stood on the spot — and that is all. This must be regarded as definitely correct.
It is of course quite uncertain whether this house has anything to do with Erik
the Red, but anyway the Eiríksstaðir ground-plan of the earlier antiquaries should
from now on be banned from archaeological literature.