Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.2011, Side 209

208 ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
of men, women and children? Í: Bergstøl, J. (ritstj.). Scandinavian Archaeological Practice
– in Theory. Proceedings from the Sixth Nordic TAG, Oslo 2001, bls. 386–399, Institutt for
Arkeologi, Oslo.
Sædís Gunnarsdóttir. 2002. The transhuman landscape of Saurbæjarhreppur. A study of
shielings, dependent farms and their locations in connection to the mother settlements.
Unpublished MA thesis, School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester.
Verrill, L. 2007. Pollen analysis. Í: Lucas, G. (ritstj). Fornleifauppgröftur á Pálstóftum við
Kárahnjúka 2005. Óútgefin skýrsla.
Þorvaldur Thoroddsen. 1919. Lýsing Íslands I. Landbúnaður á Íslandi. S. L. Möller,
Kaupmannahöfn.
Øye, I. 2003. Outfields as part of the medieval farm – four archaeological case studies
from Western Norway. Í: Bergstøl, J. (ritstj.). Scandinavian Archaeological Practice – in
Theory. Proceedings from the Sixth Nordic TAG, Oslo 2001, bls. 400–411, Institutt for
Arkeologi, Oslo.
Øye, I. 2005. Farming and farming systems in Norse societies of the North Atlantic. Í:
Mortensen, A. & Arge, S. (ritstj.). Viking and Norse in the North Atlantic. Select Papers
from Proceedings of the Fourteenth Viking Congress, Tórshavn, 19–30 July 2001, Annales
Societas Scientiarium Færoensis Supplementum XLIV, 359–370, Tórshavn.
Summary
This paper discusses the recent excavation of a 10th century shieling in the
highlands of eastern Iceland and places it in the context of other sites and
research into Viking age shielings in the North Atlantic. Although the basic
economic role of shielings in relation to livestock and summer transhumance
is not contested, it is argued that a more complex interpretation needs to be
developed around such sites, which considers their ideological and political
status. The presence of ‘subsidiary activities’ is often a prominent element in
the archaeological record of such sites; the site of Pálstóftir provides indications
of small scale craftwork, hunting and magico-religious practices which need
to be made a more central part of interpretation.