Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1981, Síða 43

SVERÐIÐ ÚR HRAFNKELSDAL
47
Benedikt ísaksson lést seint í desember 1937 samkvæmt prestþjónustubók Valþjófsstaðar-
prestakalls.
10 íslensk fornrit XI 1950, 119.
11 Samtal við Sverri Þorsteinsson, skráð í Klúku í Fljótsdal 01.08. 1979. Um spjótsoddinn veit
ég ekki frekar.
12 íslensk fornrit XI 1950, 119.
13 Samtal við Sigurð Þórarinsson 10.10. 1981.
14 Þór Magnússon 1971, 87.
SUMMARY
Just before the turn of the last century an old sword of the ULFBREHT type was found in
Hrafnkelsdalur. The sale of this sword to Denmark caused some discussion in weekly papers
published in Eastern lceland at the time. Neither in these discussions nor elsewhere is there to be
found any information of the sword’s finding-place in Hrafnkelsdalur, but when the sword was
given to the Statens historiska museum in Stockholm it was stated that it was found in the cairn of
Hrafnkell Freysgoði.
My research concentrated on the most probable finding-place of the sword. To this end 1 have
interviewed men from Hrafnkelsdalur and its nearest surroundings as well as former inhabitants
of Hrafnkelsdalur and their descendants.
The information available about the finder and the time of the finding is reliable, but oral
sources do not agree on the finding-place. Local observation of the ground with respect to the
sword’s state of preservation, comparsion of individual evidences and especially the evidence of one
trustworthy person, who can report remarks by the finder pertaining to the sword, indicate
strongly that the most probable finding-place is Skaenudalur, a low valley in the hill between
Jökuldalur and Hrafnkelsdalur (see fig. No. 2).
The sword was given to the National Museum of Iceland in 1971.