Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Qupperneq 33

EIN DANI OG BYRJANIN TIL FØROYSKA FORNFRØÐI
31
og Jacobsen tog istedet den 21. oktober Hatt med op i
fjeldene nær Hvftanes bag Tórshavn for at indlede ud-
gravningen af en af de sákaldte ‘Fransatoftir’. Dansker-
ne Daniel Bruun (1856-1931), en antikvar tilknyttet
Danmarks Nationalmuseum, samt arkitekten Johannes
Klein (1854-1928) havde allerede i 1898 foretaget en
udgravning i en af tomterne her.
De eneste oplysninger, der foreligger om den ud-
gravning, som Jacobsen og Hatt foretog i 1932, er til-
syneladende Hatts notesbog, der opbevares i Rigs-
arkivet i København, samt en række fotos, som Hatt tog
pá stedet. Der var nærmest tale om en prøveudgravning,
hvis formál var, at Hatt skulle instruere Jacobsen i
generelle udgravningsstandarder, sáledes at denne selv
kunne bistá ved fremtidige udgravninger pá Færøerne,
indtil en færing var blevet rigtigt uddannet som arkæo-
log.
Indtil Hatts besøg synes folkene i Forngripafelagið
primært at have samlet sine kræfter omkring indsamlin-
gen af genstande samt etableringen af det lille museum,
der havde fáet til huse under loftet pá Bókasavnið. I
1932 var der imidlertid tilsyneladende lagt en klar
strategi, formuleret af Jacobsen, for fremover ogsá at
gennemføre arkæologiske udgravninger. Hatt besøgte
sáledes Færøerne pá et tidspunkt, hvor færøsk arkæolo-
gi var i sit morgengry. Med Sverri Dahls (1910-1987)
udgravninger i Kvfvík under krigen var en national
færøsk arkæologi for alvor ved at etablere sig. Lykke-
ligvis náede bibliotekar Jacobsen at opleve sine vision-
er realiseret.
Notes
1. There is no precise translation of the Faroese phe-
nomenon bygd, which may consist of from one or
several ‘settlements’ (farms). Although not unprob-
lematic the term bygd in this article has been trans-
lated with the word ‘settlement’ in a more general
sense.
2. Notebook. Danish National Archives (Gudmund
Hatt, Private Archive no. 8256, parcel 38).
3. Magnus Heinesen (1545-1589) was a Faroese free-
booter. In 1579 he was provided with a monopoly
and permission to arm a warship in order to cleanse
the area around the Faroe Islands from pirates. He
also built a fortress in Tórshavn as a defence of the
stores of commercial trade in the town. He lost his
monopoly in 1584. Heinesen was decapitated in
Copenhagen in 1589, at the request of Christoffer
Valkendorff (1525-1601), but was shortly after-
wards rehabilitated.
4. Hatt’s handwriting is very difficult to read and it has
been intpossible for the author to decipher a few
lines at this place in his texl.
5. Al'ter his return Hatt submitted a report, dated May
14th 1934, to the Carlsberg Foundation, which had
sponsored his project. Carlsberg Foundation Archi-
ves.
6. Danish National Archives (Gudmund Hatt, Private
Archive no. 7256, parcel 44).
7. Danish National Archives (Gudmund Hatt, Private
Archive no. 7256, parcel 5).
8. The author is in possession of only one of these.
9. Danish National Archives (Gudmund Hatt, Private
Archive no. 7256, parcel 5).