Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1998, Page 120

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
In the utility section, there was a circular pit north of the entrance, 0,5 metre in dia-
meter and 0,2 metre deep, that may have contained a small barrel. In the western part of
the room there was a shallow cooking pit, 1 metre in diameter and 0,15 metre deep.
There may have been wooden panelling along the gable wall.
The dwelling room was seperated from the entrance hall by a wooden wall that had
Ieft traces in the ground, with an entrance at the centre of the wall. The dwelling room
consisted of a central floor section, 2 metress wide, and benches, c. 1.5 metress wide, on
each side supported by small wooden posts. The roof was. supported by two rows of
posts.The remains of two of the posts were found, one 15 cm in diameter and the other
12 cm in diameter. In the centre of the room was a long-fire, c. 1.5 metress long and 0.5
metres wide dug 0.15 metres into the subsoil. It is full of peat ash and partially covered
with flat, fire-burnt stone slabs (baking plates?) and edged with vertical flagstones.
Remains of a wooden door 1.26 m high and 0.5 m wide was found in the south east
part of the hall, indicating a sleeping alcove on the southern end of the bench.
The length of the first phase is uncertain, but once the hall ceased to be lived in it was
used for housing animals, probably sheep. During tlie second phase of the hall, at least
two new buildings were built north of the hall. A dwelling room (6x3 m), partially
destroyed by the river, and a pantry (5x3 m). Three round holes were found in the floor
where sunken wooden storage barrels had been positioned.
A building was also added to the south of the hall, its dimensions at least 3.9 x 3.6 m.
This building was partly damaged by the river and later buildings and its eastern end
could not be fully excavated due to the permafrost.
After being used as an animal shed for some tinre the hall was destroyed in a fire and
burned to the ground.
The hall represents a house type which was very common in the North Atlantic reg-
ion in the Viking Age and the early Middle Ages. After the fire buildings of a different
type were constructed at the site and the excavation showed that the farm was in con-
stant development. One important discovery was that most of the rooms of the farm
changed in both form and function as time went on. There was also a general tendency
for the rooms to gradually become smaller as time went by.
A tentative estimate indicates that to get enough building material for the walls and
the roof of the hall, approximately 1000 m2 of grass turf had to be cut from the ground
surface.
According to AMS date results the hall was used between c. 1020-1200. However, the
archaeological remains, the house type and artefacts would seem to indicate a lOth cent-
ury or early 11 th century origin. It seems most likely with all things concidered that the
hall was built in the first half of the 11 th century.
The analysis of the buildings is now in progress. So far over 40 rooms and 8 building
phases have been distinguished. Due to the perniafrost and the remarkable preservation
the site gives a unique opportunity to understand the development of a Greenlandic
farm from the first settlement to its abandonment. lt also gives us the opportunity to
make comparisons with Icelandic and otherViking and Medieval farms.This makes the
Farm beneath the Sand one of the most important excavations in the North Atlantic
archaeology in recent years.