Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.1998, Page 144

Ritdómar
ins of a heathen temple; an early
Christian church; or the alleged he-
athen grave of a person mentioned in
one of the sagas. Later protection
orders have been bestowed on monu-
ments such as a particularly large and
well built cairn, and the country’s ear-
liest concrete bridge, built in 1907.
The book aims to produce a thor-
ough and accessible list of protected
sites in one area and at the same time
to contribute to the discussion on
methodology in recording archaeolog-
ical remains. It also promises to prod-
uce location maps for the protected
sites, something which these sites have
lacked until now, and to decide, after
inspection of the sites, whether a pro-
tection order is justified or whether it
should be reconsidered in the light of
new information.
Only 29 sites are listed in the book,
so they are fairly easy to find despite
the lack of an index. The main func-
tion of this book should be that the
owners of the land on which the re-
mains are located, become fully infor-
med about the protection orders, and
the responsibilities attached to them,
and that the list is both known and
accessible to planners, roadbuilders
and others who might endanger the
remains through building activities.
As far as methodology is concerned,
the work does not really deal with the
problems of recording when faced with
all archaeological remains and not just
a select few. A number of sites were
recorded with an EDM producing
beautiful surface plans of the struc-
tures. Such plans take a long time to
produce. Large sites can take up to two
days to record in the field alone, after
which the data has to be processed and
the plans drawn up. It is clear that in a
comprehensive archaeological survey of
a large area such detailed recording
could only be applied to very few sites.
A new clause in the Antiquity Law
adopted in 1990 says that all remains
which are 100 years old or more shall
be automatically protected. The old
provision for special protection orders
of some sites remains, although it is
not made clear what further qualities
those sites need to possess to deserve
such special treatment. The author has
devised an evaluation system which he
proposes as the basis for deciding
whether or not a site deserves to be
called a National Monument. He spe-
cifies four value categories: historical,
scientific, educational and scenic
value, all of which, he suggests, should
be fulfilled for a site to deserve a spe-
cial protection order. He then applies
his evaluation system to the protected
sites in the study area and comes to
the conclusion that only four of the 29
sites listed score top marks.
It is clear that not all archaeological
sites are of equal importance and that
they therefore do not all deserve a
special preservation order. It is also
clear, as the author points out, that the
choice of sites can only meaningfully
be made after the whole area has been
surveyed. For various reasons, such as
erosion, continuous occupation and
building activities, some areas have
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