Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1982, Síða 130

SKOLLHÓLAHELLIR
133
öðrum húsum er auð standa, hurðir ganga af hjörum og karmar úr gættum,
frost og þíður skekkja hleðslur og mola veggi.
Ekki er ástæða til að viðhalda friðun allra þeirra hella sem Matthías
Þórðarson friðlýsti, margir þeirra eru reyndar alónýtir nú þegar. Gera þarf
skyndikönnun á hellunum öllum og velja úr þá sem verulegt varðveislugildi
hafa. Skollhólahellir lendir í þeim hópi. Það er ekki mikið né kostnaðarsamt
verk að byrgja hann svo að regn og snjór næði ekki inn um hann allan, og
bjarga honum þannig frá yfirvofandi eyðileggingu. Síðan mætti endurreisa
forskálana, moka út úr hellinum og lagfæra hellujötur og strompa. Ávinning-
urinn er stór. Vel við haldið og sérstætt hús eins og Skollhólahellir, með
leyndardómsfullum veggjaristum sínum, getur verið, og á að vera, stolt síns
byggðarlags.
SUMMARY
Man made caves in As, Asahreppur, South Iceland
Fossil sanddunes are common in South Iceland but rare in other parts of the country. Through
the ages the inhabitants have dug out caves of various sizes in the dunes. Over one hundred such
man made caves are known today in eastern Árnessýsla, Rangárvallasýsla and Mýrdalur (fig 1).
Some of them are among the oldest housebuildings in Iceland. Such caves are first mentioned in
The Book of Miracle of the holy Bishop Þorlákur from 1199. In The Land Registers of Árni
Magnússon and Páll Vídalín from 1709 several caves are mentioned, many of them seem still to be
existing.
This article deals mainly with man made caves at the farm Ás in Ásahreppur, Rangárvallasýsla
and especially the one named Skollhólahellir (The Cave of Foxy Hills). Before the description of
Skollhólahellir, Heyhellir (The Barn Cave) in Ás is mentioned. In addition to being used us a
barn it also served as a meeting place for county meetings. On the cave walls there were marked
figures and signs.
The great poet Einar Benediktsson described these marks briefly and the famous painter Jó-
hannes Kjarval made two pictures of the cave and its interior, neither of which exist today. The
cave collapsed and was destroyed in the forties with-. its unexplained mysteries.
Skollhólahellir is outlined in figure 2. lt was used as a sheephouse. and seems to have been in
operation from the 18th century (at least) and up to the middle oT the 20th century. It is 25 m
long, 3—5 m wide and around 2 m high. The side cave is 7 m in lenght. It was used as a barn along
with the western part of the main cave. Interesting signs are on the cave walls, especially around
the entrance to the side cave. The most remarkable ones are shown on figs 4,5. The two crosses
have the sizes 45x28 cm and 15x11 cm. Crosses are known in some other man made caves in lce-
land but few are as big and well made as the bigger cross in Skollhólahellir. Beneath the crosses is
a smoothed area with strange marks. The marks seem to have some meaning but are still unex-
plained. The wall marks in Skollhólahellir must be old. In a parish description from about 1840
they are mentioned as runes. Their origin seem then already to have been forgotten.