Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1976, Síða 116

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
in 1861 and there exists from his hand a detailed topographical description
of the whole Þjórsárdalur district from 1862. In the summer of 1895 an excava-
tion was undertaken on the site for two days by Þorsteinn Eriingsson and
Brynjúlfur Jónsson. In 1939 six sites, including Stöng, were excavated in
Þjórsárdalur, but the Sámsstadir site was not re-examined at the time.
The remains of the dwelling. These consist of a few connected houses, con-
forming to the classical Þjórsárdalur plan. Two longhouses (usually called
skáli and stofa) in one row with connected gables and two small houses behind
and off the larger of the two longhouses. One of the characteristic traits of
this plan is its great length, in this case about 38 m. Another trait of the
Þjórsárdalur farms is the location of the byre at some distance from the dwelling
houses, in this case about 80 m. It is clear that many features of Sámsstaðir have
parallels at Stöng and other Þjórsárdalur sites.
Because of erosion what remains of the houses are mainly the stone founda-
tions. Tt was, however, clear that the houses had also been built of turf and
timber. Four kinds of stone were found on the site: (1) Stones of basalt in the
foundations of the turf walls derive from the mountain behind the farm;
(2) sandstone in various internal arrangements, under interior partitions and
inside post holes derives from sediments below the farm; (3) stones of por-
phyritic lava, so-called Þjórsárhraun, also in various internal arrangements,
were obtained at some distance from the houses at the bottom of the valley;
(4) tuffstone, red or green, lying among the ruins but not used for building
purposes. The floors, apparently where much walked on, had been covered with
charcoal.
The larger longhouse (skáli) was approximately 13,6x4,5—4 m, but its vary-
ing width seemed to be correlated with possible partitions. Along the entire
length of its western half there was a charcoal floor about 2 m wide and
along the walls a 1 m wide dais. In the charcoal covered floor there was a
fireplace, long-fire (langeldur). To the west of the fire-place bog-iron, the
raw material for the making of iron, was found on the floor. To the east of the
fire-place there was a row of sandstones across the house, possibly the founda-
tion of a partition. The remains of interioi arrangements inddcate that the
house was carefully built and that it was of a considerable complexity.
The smaller longhouse (stofa) was about 7,6x3 m. The probable remains of a
partition across the house were found in the floor. A fire-place and indications of
weaving activity were found in this house.
There were two smaller houses off the main buildings. The larger one was
a larder or dairy (búr), about 6x3 m. Depressions in the floor are due to large
vessels used for storing food. The smaller was a latrine (kamar), about
3,6x1,8 m. The remains of a funnel were found along its northern wall. This
house has erroneously been considered to be a bath-room (baðstofa).
A storehouse (útibúr or skemma) was farthest to the east of the main com-
plex, but its remains were indistinct and badly eroded.
The remains of a byre were to the east of the farm, about 8,6x3,6 m, interest-
ingly enough of about the same size as many remains of byres excavated in
Iceland. The byre may have housed about 20 cattle. In the middle there was
a funnel paved with flat stones inclining towards the door, and the stalls
were along the walls. The flagstones between the stalls had been removed,