Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.1998, Page 12

Gavin Lucas
of this work has been minimal. There
is a clear need for a venue in which
this work can be brought together and
presented to a wider audience, both
within Iceland and abroad.
It is partly a sign of this need that
there is now a Society of Icelandic
Archaeologists (Félag íslenskra forn-
leifafræðinga) which convenes to dis-
cuss recent research and allows archae-
ologists to come together and present
their work amongst their peers. How-
ever such work still needs to be pub-
lished, indeed since 1990 the Icelandic
government has made it an obligation
to do this within five years. The
importance of publication, beyond
archive reports, cannot be stressed too
highly and for at least two reasons:
first, it can reach a much wider audi-
ence and in doing so, its relevance and
importance are both increased and bet-
ter appreciated. Second, such reception
enables a broader spectrum of response
and feedback on the value of the work,
thus helping to develop and improve
the research which is conducted in
Iceland. On this line, the question of
which language to publish in becomes
highly significant; so much of the
archaeological work conducted in the
past but especially that being done
today, is effectively closed off to the
wider archaeological and scientific
community. This is unfortunate, not
simply because foreign archaeologists
working in Iceland or even the wider
region of the North Atlantic are unin-
formed, but perhaps more so because
Icelandic archaeology is not getting
the recognition it deserves on the
wider stage. For this reason, many of
the papers in this journal will be in
English as can be seen from this first
issue.
Iceland will continue to attract for-
eign researchers and specialists and
this international co-operation needs
to be sustained for the same reasons; it
is equally important that their work is
published within Iceland by an Ice-
landic journal, even if in a foreign lan-
guage, so that such work is available
to Icelandic archaeologists. However,
while the journal is intended to be
accessible to an international audience
and include contributions by non-
Icelanders, the ultimate aim remains
the promotion of Iceland’s archaeologi-
cal heritage. The nature of the material
it will cover focuses quite specifically
on archaeological research in Iceland
and will include reports on current
projects, more general articles, book
reviews and an annual round-up of all
archaeological work done in the coun-
try. The first issue thus includes three
articles on a long-term project of a
national survey of archaeological sites;
there is a special section devoted to
presenting a single project, excavations
at the Viking farm of Hofstaðir with
reports on the preliminary investiga-
tions in 1991-1995 and several articles
on the ongoing environmental research
since 1996; there is the annual round-
up; and finally a review of several
books recently published. The section
devoted to the current project at
Hofstaðir is a particularly good exam-
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