Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2004, Page 205

ÆRGl I SKARÐSVIK, FUGLOY
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not yet been established. According to local
tradition the coastline was heavily eroded
within living memory and this resulted in
the erosion of cultivated land as well as a
fine landing place. Today, because of the
shallow depth of the bay, only small boats
can land here. Interestingly, heavy erosion
of the Skarðsvík coastline was noted in Jens
Christian Svabo’s (1746-1824) topographi-
cal survey of the Faroe Islands in the early
1780s (Svabo, 1783:40).
Just south of the field system, close to
the shoreline, are a number of ruined out-
houses (Faroese: hjallur) and boat-houses
(Faroese: neyst). These, according to local
tradition, were still in use in the early 20th
century2, but it is not known when they
were first built. However, taking the agri-
cultural potential of the area into considera-
tion, there is reason to believe that the area
around Skarðsvík was the target of human
exploitation during most of the history of
settlement on Fugloy. Indeed, it is interest-
ing to note that Svabo mentioned Skarðs-
vík’s agricultural capabilities (Svabo, 1783:
381).
Walking uphill from this part of the
coastline one comes to a fertile terrace be-
low an escarpment. The terrace is situated
at approximately 150 meters above sea-
level and is surrounded by high mountains,
the highest being Klubbin with a height of
621 m. A number of structures can be seen
on and around the terrace, and these include
buildings for storing turl' (Faroese: krúgv),
sheep-shelters (Faroese: ból) and a sheep-
fold (Faroese: rætt) (Stoklund, 1998; 2002).
Conventionally, structures such as these are
usually dated to the early modern period.
However, in the absence of excavation or
other dating evidence, it is not possible to
verify such a view. Interestingly, neverthe-
Fig. 3. Site plan oftlie
shieling at Uppi í Skála
in Skarðsvík. Computer-
graphics: Mette Cecilie
Kraitse.