Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 22

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A DANE AND THE DAWNING OF FAROESE ARCHAEOLOGY
Fig. 10. A view ofthe excavation at the ‘F'ransatoftir' near Hvítanes in 1898. Drawing by Johannes Klein.
National Museum of Denmark, Topographicai-Antiquarian Archives.
with the National Museum of Denmark
(Bruun, 1929: 92). In 1898 Bruun, together
with the architect Johannes Klein (1854-
1928), excavated in a ruin of this type. Bru-
un described it as follows:
‘A couple of hours walk at a mountain path
from Tórshavn past the plantation to the
Northwest and towards the settlement of
Sund takes one close to Villingadal and the
cairn Gellinga-Klettur (343 metres above
sea-level). The site is situated between Kald-
baksfjørður and Hvítanes and is by some re-
ferred to as „Fransatoftir“. Here is an an-
cient refuge, whereto the inhabitants of the
nearby settlements, maybe even from Tór-
shavn, took in times of unrest. By some large
boulders has been built a rather big hut,
which by the excavation by Johs. Klein and
myself in 1898 turned out to be a complete
„Smoke-room“ (Faroese: Roykstova, au-
thor’s comment) with walls of turf and
stones. The internal measurements of the hut
were 3.40 metres x 2.53 metres, the thickness
of the walls approximately 1 metre. In one
corner of the room was found an open fire-
place consisting of flat stones brittled by fire.
The hut had probably been burnt or taken
down. It was well hidden by the large boul-
ders at the top of the mountain, so that even
people passing by would not take notice of it.
The building is said to derive from the times
of Magnus Hejnesen [3]. There is by the
way, a reference to a couple of houses at the