Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.1998, Page 45

Adolf Friðriksson & Orri Vésteinsson
ÍSLEIF
A database of archaeological sites in lceland
AdolfFriðriksson & Orri Vésteinsson, F'ornleifastofnun Islands, Bdrugótu 3, 101 Reykjavík.
Keywords: Archaeological survey, databases.
Since 1993 a registration of archaeo-
logical sites has been underway in
Iceland directed by the Institute of
Archaeology in Iceland. Parallel to the
registration work a database has been
under construction designed to meet
the needs of archaeologists, cultural
resource managers and teachers as well
as the public. The database, called
ÍSLEIF, is developed by Adolf Friðriks-
son and Orri Vésteinsson.
The registration work and data-in-
put is divided into two stages. At the
first stage data from written records
and maps is entered into the database.
This includes data from archaeological
reports, place name inventories, land
registers and early field maps. At pre-
sent information on about 22,000 sites
has been entered into the database in
this manner, covering regions like the
central highlands, Eyjafjarðarsýsla in
the North, Fljótsdalshérað in the East,
the northern half of Borgarfjarðarsýsla
in the West, Vestur-Barðastrandarsýsla
in the Northwest and the Mývatn area
in the Northeast. The quality and
quantity of information entered about
each site at this stage varies, but in the
majority of cases good indications
about location and nature of sites are
recorded.
The second stage takes the regis-
tration into the field. It includes inter-
views with locals, aerial photography
as well as field walking. Each site is
visited, its location recorded with
GPS, a standardised description of the
remains is made and a sketch drawn
where applicable. This stage of the
registration work is of course much
more costly and time-consuming than
the first and currently some 4500 sites
have been registered in this way. Areas
where field-work has been done inclu-
de Eyjafjarðarsveit and Akureyri in the
North, Mývatnssveit in the North,
Hjaltastaðaþinghá and Fellahreppur in
the East, Grafningur and Akranes in
the Southwest, and Bolungarvík in the
Northwest.
The Icelandic Law on antiquities has
a very wide and all-encompassing de-
finition of what constitutes an archaeo-
Archaeologia Islandica 1 (1998) 45-46