Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.2010, Blaðsíða 116

SKAGFIRSKA KIRKJURANNSÓKNIN 115
Summary
In recent years a number of large-scale archaeological and settlement research projects
have taken place in the Skagafjörður area. The Skagafjörður Church Project began
in 2007 on behalf of the Archaeological department of the Skagafjörður Heritage
Museum. The Church project will utilize results from all of these different projects
as well as conducting primary research on early church/cemetery sites dating to the
11th to 15th centuries. The Church project is, to some extent, a misnomer, as the main
focus of the research is not necessarily church buildings, but rather the mapping of
Christian burial grounds – a more easily detectable archaeological feature. The first
phase is documentary research and surface surveying but once an area or structure
is found which looks promising, test trenches will be used to establish whether they
are cemeteries or not. The research aims to throw light on the first centuries of
Christianity in Skagafjörður: early church organization, number and distribution of
churches, burial customs, the size and nature of farms and households, the position
of the sites geographically and on the nature and change in power structures, both
ecclesiastical and secular.
Ten early cemetery sites have, in the last few years, come to light in the area.
Extensive excavations have been carried out on two of those, one at Neðri-Ás in
Hjaltadalur and the other in Keldudalur in Hegranes; and restricted excavations have
been conducted on the rest of the sites. Nine of the ten cemeteries seem, largely, to
have gone out of use in the 11th or early 12th centuries, one, however, was still in use
in the 13th century. In some instances churches continue at the site after the cemetery
is no longer being used for burials, often being given the status of “bænhús” or family
chapel. This indicates a change in the organization of churches and burials, probably
due to the introduction of parishes and parish churches.
The preliminary results of the research seem to indicate that the first phase of
churches and cemeteries in Skagafjörður were built by individual farmers and that
structured organization only started to take place late in the 11th century. Christian
burial customs seem to have been adopted very early after the conversion around 1000
A.D. The earliest cemetery structures appear similar in nature, circular enclosures,
often 17-20m across, most often situated next to the farmstead within the boundary
walls of the home field.