Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1980, Page 114

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
the methods used to recover the palaeoecological data and the identified floral
and faunal remains (Fig. 4 and 5) are listed in tables 1 to 3.
Discussion
The identification of fossil assemblages from archaeological sites requires a
knowledge not only of modern plant and animal communities but also of the
former uses to which certain plants were put. Thus, several taxa in the Stóra-
borg lists which are primarily weeds, including Urtica urens (brenninetla),
Rumex acetosa (túnsúra), Polygonum aviculare (blóðarfi), Menyanthes
trifoliata (reiðingsgras) and stellaria media (haugarfi) were previously widely
eaten (Usher, 1974), although only the last three would have been collected as
seeds and therefore be represented in the fossil record. A charred grain of
Hordeum (bygg) from the midden sample is the only indication of crops at
this period but an extensive deposit of barley was recovered from mediæval
levels deeper in the mound and it is possible that this solitary grain is derived
by disturbance from this horizon. The presence, uncharred, of half an elytron
(þakvængur) of the grain weevil, Sitophilus c.f. granarius, however, suggests
contemporaneity, as the fragile insect remains are less likely to be redeposited.
S. granarius, probably an introduction during the Roman period to north west
Europe (Buckland, 1978), is flightless and requires stored products, usually
cereals, to breed in. Although able to withstand cold (Solomon & Adamson,
1955), it is unlikely to have been able to breed and overwinter in the small
amounts of grain available on early post-mediæval Icelandic farms and the
specimen probably arrived in grain imported from the European mainland.
Of this genus, only the rice weevil (hrísgrjónabjalla), S. oryzae, is noted by
Larsson and Gígja (1958) but Erling Ólafsson has recently obtained S.
granarius from stores in Reykjavík (pers. comm.). There are no records of
cereal cultivation continuing into the seventeenth century, but the pollen spec-
trum from the house floor (table 2) contains cereal-sized grains. It is possible,
however, that these come either from imported cereal or from Elymus
arenarius (melgras) (c.f. Einarsson, 1961), which can be found growing on
dunes close to the site and which was utilised as a substitute for grain
(Thoroddsen, 1914).
The pollen count also includes one other plant which may have been culti-
vated by man; the single Coryloid grain presumably comes from Myrica gale
(mjaðarlyng), a Norse introduction no longer found in Iceland. This was
noted by Þórarinsson (1944) at Skallakot, in Þjórsárdalur, and by Einarsson
(1961) at Borgarmýri, near Reykjavík. The plant may have been introduced
for use either in medicines or in brewing.
There is considerable overlap between the flora and fauna of the two