Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1980, Page 111

EXCAVATIONS AT STÓRABORG, A PALAEOECOLOGICAL APPROACH
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2. Aerial view of Ihe site at Stóraborg looking north. (Circular features are tlie excavation spoil
tips). — Loflmynd af Stóruborgarsvceðinu. (Skeifumynduðu garðarnir eru mokstur úr uppgreftr-
inutn).
The study of pollen has been expanded by Þorleifur Einarsson (1961; 1962),
although his research was not directly associated with archaeology. More
recently, Margrét Hallsdóttir (pers. comm.), as well as working upon older
organic sediments, has sampled archaeological sites on Heimaey and in
Reykjavík. All published pollen diagrams show the radical effects of man
upon a delicately balanced ecosystem, with rapid and virtually total disap-
pearance of the once extensive birch forests, leading to increased erosion and
the widespread loss of fertile loess soils (Þórarinsson, 1961 a).
Animal bones have received little attention. The Stöng material was
reported upon by Deberbol (1943) and a possible local þing site at Hegranes in
northern Iceland produced only sheep bones, probably from joints of meat
taken to the booths, (Ólafsson and Snæsdóttir, 1975). Sigurður Sigurðsson
has examined the bones, including domestic animals and fish, from another
local þing site at Kópavogur recently excavated by one of us (G.S.). Human
bones were examined from the cemetery at Skeljastaðir in Þjórsárdalur by