Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1980, Blaðsíða 115

EXCAVATIONS AT STÓRABORG, A PALAEOECOLOGICAL APPROACH
119
4. Insect remains from the Stóraborg samples. — Skordýraleifar frá Stórubog.
samples and the midden seems to include plants used on the floors and occa-
sionally cleared out from the rooms of the farm; other waste is also present.
Some differences, however, particularly in the flora, are evident. Unfor-
tunately, the seed list (table 1) is a poor index of plant frequeney and, in many
aspects, the table can only be treated on a presence or absence basis. Much of
the variation in seed numbers is linked directly to the biology of the plants, to
their growth habits, productivity and seed characteristics. Species with high
seed production or which grow in clumps may account for large numbers of
seeds from a disproportionately small area of plant cover; both Rumex (súra)
and Stellaria (arfi) fall into this category. Others, like Taraxacum (fífill) and
Leontodon autumnalis (skarifífill), with an effective aerial dispersal
mechanism, may appear in the table as part of the general background count
rather than as immediately relevant data. Some plants, such as Trifolium
repens (smári) may only be represented in the pollen spectrum (table 2), since
the seeds are rarely preserved. The large number of seeds of Empetrum
nigrum (krækiber) in the midden sample might imply the presence of human
fæces, since the seeds are passed through the digestive system, but these ber-
ries are also widely eaten by birds, in particular, by ptarmigan (rjúpa) and
wimbrel (spói), and their appearance in the midden could be from that source.
Examination of a small sample of the deposit for the remains of intestinal