Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.2009, Síða 177

176 ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
Kristmundsson á að áin hafi ekki þurft að vera afgerandi landamerki á þessum slóðum
enda hafi Laxárdalur lengst af verið í Hrunamannahreppi.
136 Landamerkjabók fyrir Árnessýslu. Landamerkjabréf no. 252.
137 Sjá Skýrsla Óbyggðanefndar fyrir árin 1998-2000. Bls. 632-633.
138 Landamerkjabók fyrir Árnessýslu. Landamerkjabréf no. 263. Ritvilla er í 7. lið,
Grímsstaðaland fyrir Laxárdalsland, vafalaust misheppnuð leiðrétting á lýsingu Vald.
Briem, sbr tilv. hér næst á undan.
139 „Hrunaheiðar og eignaréttur afrétta.“ Þjóðólfur. Jólablað 1986. Bls. 26-27.
Summary
This article presents a study of settlement patterns in Hrunamannahreppur, between
the rivers of Hvítá and Stóra-Laxá in the highlands of Árnessýsla in Southern Iceland.
The settlement is examined in relation to the study by Orri Vésteinsson, T.H.
McGovern and K. Keller of Norse dwellings in Greenland and Iceland, which develops
a model for the analysis of typical settlement process. That process has three stages:
large complex settlements, large simple settlements and planned settlements.
A case study is drawn from Landnámabók (Book of Settlements), in which the
brothers Bröndólfur and Már, sons of the Viking Naddoddur, settled the whole of
Hrunamannahreppur, with Bröndólfur living in Berghylur and Már at Másstaðir.
One purpose of this case study is to evaluate whether ideas about the location of these
farms and the division of the district (hreppur) are correct. Other early farms are also
classif ied in terms of the analytic model in the hope of shedding light on their origin
and development.
Analysis based on this method suggests that traditional theories stating that
Bröndólfur and Már divided Hrunamannahreppur between themselves, using the river
Litla-Laxá as a landmark, are incorrect. The hypothesis that Másstaðir was situated
on the property of the settlement farm of Hörgsholt seems unsustainable in terms of
the analytic model. A more likely hypothesis is that of Þór Magnússon, who, drawing
on evidence from excavations at the farm at Hvítárholt (prev. Ísabakki), suggests that
the site of Hvítárholt is in fact Másstaðir. If this is true, Másstaðir must have been an
outlying farm from Gröf, which in turn must have been the oldest main center in the
district. This understanding is also consistent with Svavar Sigmundsson‘s theory that
farms whose names contain the element ‘staðir’ (places) were usually outlying farms
or utility units from settlement farms, and were often named after the settler or a close
relative. It must have been a misunderstanding on the part of the twelfth-century
authors of Landnámabók that the settlers themselves lived at ‘staðir’ – that is, on farms
bearing their own names.