Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1969, Page 93

FORNMINJAR 1 REYKJAVlK
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measured. 203—90 cm (from above): disturbed soil with remains of buildings of
later centuries. 90 cm: 3—4 mm thick ”floor layer." 90—22 cm: peat layer, rich in
wooden fragments and bones. 22—0 cm: brownish mud layer. 0 cm: gravel. On top
of it was a 2—3 mm thick layer of bog iron.
Bones collected from the peat layer were of 12 species of animals, the most re-
markable are those of pig (Sus domestica), not raised in Iceland after the 16th
century, walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), and Pinguinus impennis, extinct 1844, but
scarce a long time before. From this peat layer derive probably also the oldest
looking archaeological remains collected by Matthías Þórðarson, some of them
according to him from the Viking time. Two wooden chips collected by dr. Finnur
Guðmundsson from this same layer have been radiocarbon dated by dr. Ingrid
Olsson, Uppsala. One of the chips was from Larix decidua (a Middle European
larix). The age was 1140 ± 70 B.P., i. e. 810 A. D. (U-2082). The other chip was from
Betula pubescens-tortuosa (Icelandic birch). Here the age was 1190 ± 90 B. P., i. e.
760 A. D. (U-2167). Radiocarbon datings, bones and archaeological remains indicate,
that the peat layer material is of very early historical age. The remains have been
dumped as rubbish into a wet bog from a nearby farm.
In 1962 the authors made a reconnaissance survey through digging small pits and
drilling holes in the area around the southern part of Aðalstrœti. Almost every-
where traces of human activity were found; ash, fragments of utensils and building
stones. Only the deepest part of the soil profiles was without remains. Two main
areas of early human activity seem to stand out clearly. One is the Tjarnargata
area, the other Aðalstræti 16—18. Deep at the bottom of a drill hole in Aðalstræti
16 was found the tephra layer VII a, b, which is from earliest settlement time or
a little older. In a nearby hole there was at similar depth a “floor layer.” Plants
and charcoal fragments from this layer were radiocarbon dated by H. Tauber, Copen-
hagen. The age was 1340 ± 100 B. P., i. e. 610 A. D. (K-940). It should be pointed
out that “floor layer” is a mixture of plant remains from top of prehistoric soil and
fragments trampled down into a floor. Pollen analysis of the sample made by B.
Fredskild, Copenhagen, shows a very early historical spectrum.
The investigations reported produce evidence for a very old settlement in the
area around the southern part of Aðalstræti.
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