Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1981, Page 33

BJ ARNAGARÐUR
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have more or less recently been destroyed through road work and tillage. Short stretches of fenced
lanes running east-west can still be seen within the Landbrot settlement.
A map of Bjarnagarður, as well as of walls and lanes connected with it, is presented. The map (11)
is based on aerial photographs from 1979 and field measurements carried out, together with
digging of sections through the wall, by the present writer with the aid of interested volunteers.
According to the map the length of Bjarnagarður has once been probably about 7.7 km, but the
straight-line distance between the ends of the wall is about 5.5 km. The many bends and curves of
the wall depend partly on the landforms, partly on the thickness of humus soil on the Landbrot
lava, which was only about three centuries old when the wall was built. The wall tends to avoid
the pseudocraters and pseudocratergroups on the lava flow and is confined mainly within those
areas of the lava where the humus soil had become thick enough to supply material suitable for
the building of the wall.
Cross sections of Bjarnagarður indicate that the volume of the wall per height unit has been at
least as large as that of a legal fencing wall (löggarðr) according to the laws of the Icelandic
Medieval Commonwealth.
Tephrochronological studies reveal that Bjarnagarður was built about 1200 A.D. The shape of
the wall and its position show that it was mainly or solely built in order to hinder trespassing from
west. This fact, together with the age of the wall and the existence of east-west running fenced
lanes within the Landbrot settlement, indicate a core of truth in the legend of Bjarnagarður and
the Skjaldbreið settlement as told by the Reverend Jón Steingrímsson.
TILVITNANIR
1 Jónsbók. Útgef. Ólafur Halldórsson. Odense Universitetsforlag 1970, bls. 159.—Tilvitn-
anir úr fornum heimildum eru í ritgerð þessari færðar til nútíma stafsetningar.
2 Sjá t.d. Daniel Bruun: Fortidsminder og Nutidshjem paa Island. Kobenhavn 1928, bls 144-
171.
3 K. Kálund: Bidrag til en historisk-topografisk beskrivelse af Island II. 1879-82, bls. 164.
4 Lýsing íslands III. Reykjavík 1919, bls. 97-103.
5 Kristmundur Bjarnason: Saga Dalvíkur 1. Útgef. Dalvíkurbær 1978, bls. 32-39.
6 Páll Sigurðsson frá Lundi: Tveir garðar fornir i Fljótum. Fólk og fróðleikur. Sögufélag
Skagfirðinga 1979, bls. 177-199.
7 Saga Dalvíkur 1. bls. 38.
8 Grágás II. Útgef. Vilhjálmur Finsen, Kaupmannahöfn 1852, bls. 91.
9 Sama rit. bls. 121.
10 Jónsbók. 1970, bls. 187.
11 Sigurður Þórarinsson: Klimat. Island och Grönland. Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk
middelalder VIII, bls. 490-493.
12 Jónsbók. 1970, bls. 187.
13 Grágás II, bls. 90.
14 Jónsbók. 1970, bls. 160.
15 Gísli Gestsson: Alen. Island. Kulturhist.leks. f. nord. middelalder XXI, bls. 82-83.
16 Norges gamle love indtil 1387. Ed. R.Kayser og P.A. Munch. Förste Bind. Christiania 1846,
bls. 40.
17 Grágás II, bls. 90. Staðarhólsbók, Kaupmannahöfn 1879, bls. 465.
18 Geislakolsaldur á koli úr bæjarrúst að Hrísheimum (U-2719) reyndist 1105 ±65 e.Kr.
19 Norges gamle love I, 1846, bls. 290.
20 Myndin tekin úr Forntida gárdar i Island. Útgef. M. Stenberger. Uppsala 1943, bls. 40.