Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2004, Síða 208

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A VIKING-AGE SHIELING IN SKARÐSVÍK, FUGLOY, FAROE ISLANDS
other recorded sites and seems almost typi-
cal of this type of settlement. The size and
construction of the house can be compared
with structures at the excavated shieling site
at Argisbrekka. Here the structures were
built of turf, sand, clay and gravel without
any significant use of stones (Mahler, 1993:
489). Likewise, the house in Skarðsvík ap-
parently has no stone construction. It is also
interesting to note that the position of the
entrance in the Skarðsvík house is the same
as in Argisbrekka houses A XII and A VIII
N (Mahler, 1993: ftg. 32.2). Each of these
houses is also of the same general size and
dimensions as the Skarðsvík building.
The date of the establishment of the two
present day setllements (Faroese: bygdir)
in Fugloy, Kirkja and Hattarvík, is as yet
unknown but there is no reason to disbe-
lieve that they were both founded in the
Viking Age. The shieling in Skarðsvík
lies approximately 3.0 and 2.5 km from
Kirkja and Hattarvík respectively, and even
though the terrain between them is diffi-
cult to traverse, its location in relation to
these potential winter farms fits well into
the pattern from the other shieling sites
recorded in the Faroe Islands. None of the
other recorded sites exceeds a distance of
4.5 km í'rom the winter farm, with the aver-
age distance being 3.0 km (Mahler, 1993:
495). The question therefore arises: did the
shieling in Skarðsvík belong to Kirkja, or to
Hattarvík, or to both?
The fact that the Skarðsvík shieling
comprises only a small building and an en-
closure makes it unlikely that it was used
by more than one settlement. In recent
times this part of Skarðsvík forms part of
the Kirkja outfield. Although it is likely
that this was also the situation in the Vi-
king Age, this cannot be established with
certainty. It is worth noting that the only
other location in Fugloy likely to contain a
shieling is the small valley or terrace called
Vatnsdalur, i.e. the valley with the lake, in
the south-western part of the island. This
is located just over one kilometre north of
Kirkja and, so far, no structures have been
recorded here. If Vatnsdalur proves to be
the location of a shieling, then it must have
been associated with the settlement at Kirk-
ja. As it seems unlikely that two shielings
on Fugloy belonged to the one settlement,
then the possibility occurs that Skarðsvík
originally belonged to Hattarvík.
On the basis of its proximity to the main
farm, whether it be Hattarvík or Kirkja, the
shieling site in Skarðsvík could be termed
a full seter, i.e. a place “used throughout
the summer for the milking of animals,
treating and storing of milk and other dairy
products, as well as for the harvesting or
collecting of winter fodder” (Albrethsen
and Keller, 1986: 96; Mahler, 1993: 495).
Mahler divides the Faroese shielings on
archaeological grounds into two groups: a
simple and a complex group. The first “con-
sists of small 4.5-5 x 3 m2 [íicj house struc-
tures (internal measurements)....where the
walls are built of turf’; the second group
“consists of complex structures showing
two to three transverse partitions or....with
structures also added to the western long-
side” (Mahler, 1993: 499). The structures
recorded in Skarðsvík clearly indicate that
this site belongs to Mahler’s first group.
Whether the two groups represent a chron-