Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1980, Page 53

ANNAÁMIG
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SUMMARY
At the farm Stóraborg in Rangárvallasýsla in southern Iceland excavations are being carried out
by the National Museum of Iceland since 1978. The site is very close to the shore. It is a farm site
abandoned about 1840 when the farmhouses were moved farther from the sea. It is not known how
far back the settlement dates, but it goes back to the middle ages. A small church and a churchyard
belonged to the farm. The site is now endangered by the action of the sea and two nearby rivers, and
damage had been done before excavations started in 1978. Preservation conditions are very good at
the site and the number of finds is high for Icelandic standards.
The excavation is not yet finished. The churchyard and the poor remains of the church were
excavated in 1978, and in the two following summers the excavating team worked at the remains of
the farm. Still much work has to be done before the excavation is finished.
The above article deals with one of the 860 finds from the summer of 1980, a spindle complete
with spindlewhorl. The spindlewhorl is elaborately decorated and carries an inscription. The in-
scriptjon is damaged so that the whole of it can’t be read. It seems to consist of a woman’s name,
ending with the letters -nna (the most common Icelandic name that fits is Anna) and the words
,,owns me.”
The spindle was found in a floor layer that is preliminary dated to the 17. century. It looks worn
and was probably old when it was discarded or lost. lt might belong to either the 16. og 17. century.
Rit sem notuð voru:
Ellen Marie Mageroy: Planteornamentikken i islandsk treskurd. Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana.
Supplementun V-VI Kaupmannahöfn 1967.
Ólafur Lárusson: Nöfn íslendinga árið 1703. Safn til sögu íslands og íslenzkra bókmennta,
2. fl. II, 2. Reykjavík 1960.
Þórður Tómasson: Brot úr byggðasögu. Stóra-Borg undir Eyjafjöllum. Kirkjuritið 1970, bls.
455.
Þjóðsagan um Önnu á Stóruborg er í íslenskum þjóðsögum og ævintýrum, safni Jóns Árnason-
ar og Magnúsar Grímssonar, 4. bindi, bls. 200, Reykjavík 1956.
Ljósmyndirnar eru eftir Gísla Gestsson.