Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1992, Page 71

HIÐ FÉLAGSLEGA RÝMI AÐ GRANASTÖÐUM
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SUMMARY
Human beings exhibit many types of behaviour, including social behaviour. Social behav-
iour may express economic, age-related, gender-related and other types of social variables.
Cultural behaviour is a mixture of many kinds of behaviour, including ecological, religious
and social behaviours, which occur as activities under diverse conditions, with varying
motives and effects in spatial contexts. In this article I focus on social behaviour, first in theo-
retical terms, and then in reference to my own work at the Viking Age farm at Granastaðir,
Northern Iceland. One of my basic standpoints is that the distribution of finds, the location
of structures and the planning of houses are not totally random, but are due to social behav-
iour. Furthermore, I accept that there are some general laws of human behaviour that are
independent of time and space. People reproduce or express social relationships to other
people in their spatial behaviours.
It is suggested that spatial behaviour at Granastaðir and other farm sites might provide
some answers to the question of the origins of Iceland's first settlers, origins which are to be
sought in Northern Europe, and probably in several regions, not least in Northern Scandi-
navia. It is not possible at this time to specify these regions of origin, because there still are
insufficient comparative materials in several parts of Scandinavia. The solution to this ques-
tion may lie in more excavations, and total excavations, preferably in Northern Scandinavia.