Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.1998, Page 145

Reviews
less well-preserved sites than others. In
view of the fact that a comprehensive
archaeological survey has not yet been
carried out in the study area, the clas-
sification described above therefore
seems rather pointless.
The classification of sites in order of
importance is justifiable so far as this
is possible. Without an archaeological
investigation such classification has to
rely on what is known about the sites
historically, in conjunction with what
can be seen on the surface. Some sites
which do not reveal many features on
the surface may be far more important
archaeologcially than those which have
impressive surface features. The scenic
value must therefore not be allowed to
be the deciding factor when it comes
to deciding the importance of a site, as
the author of this study has suggested.
His re-evaluation of the protected sites
in Borgarfjörður seems to attach too
much importance to that aspect. It is
also noteworthy that he dismisses the
group of recent monuments, such as
the first concrete bridge, from the top
category of importance. I think it is
valuable to include more recent monu-
ments of this type in the selection and
would, for example, have welcomed, in
the chapter on the description of the
bridge, some information on its
construction which I suspect is availa-
ble from the road- and bridge-build-
ing authorities in Iceland.
This is a beautifully produced publi-
cation, and well illustrated, mostly
with colour photographs of both maps
and sites. It is the first attempt to
make an archaeological survey availa-
ble in print in Iceland. Let us hope
that it is only the beginning of a trend
which will eventually give us an
archaeological survey with location
maps of the whole country. Only in
that way will we be able to guard our
archaeological heritage efficiently.
GuSrún Sveinbjarnardóttir
LEIRKER Á ÍSLANDI / POTTERY
FOUND IN EXCAVATIONS IN
ICELAND. By GUÐRÚN SVEIN-
BJARNARDÓTTIR. Rit Hins ís-
lenska fornleifafélags og Þjóðminja-
safns íslands 3, Reykjavík 1996. 184
pages including plates and figures;
text in Icelandic and English.
Icelandic archaeology has always (and
still does) put its main emphasis on
the earliest phases of settlement of the
island. Medieval and post-medieval
pottery has hardly been scientifically
studied, perhaps because the greater
part of it originates in the era after the
reformation. One difficulty is that
most of the sherds are stray finds or are
not stratigraphically excavated and
their potential is therefore limited. Up
to now finds were either not studied or
only published in Icelandic journals
(in Icelandic) and were thus hardly
accessible to interested archaeologists
from other countries. Guðrún Svein-
bjarnardóttir’s publication represents
the first survey of pottery finds from
Iceland and finally opens up this
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