Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Page 26

Timothy J. Horsley & Stephen J. Dockrill
building remains revealed in the earth
resistance survey, but linear positive
anomalies also reveal buried features in
their own right. Some of these anomalies
can be compared with anomalies in the
earth resistance survey and demonstrate
the complementary nature of these two
survey methods.
Hofstadir, Mývatnssveit
The farm of Hofstaðir in North East
Iceland has been a focus of archaeologi-
cal interest throughout this century, in
particular on the Viking Age great hall
(skáli) long considered a temple or 'tem-
ple-farm' site (Friðriksson and
Vésteinsson, 1997a).
Since 1996, a Field School has been
held at Hofstaðir, run jointly by the FSl
and NABO (The North Atlantic
Biocultural Organisation), and in 1999
provided the opportunity for geophysical
surveys to be fully integrated with their
own investigations.
Hofstaðir is located within the valley
of the Laxá river in Mývatnsveit, NE
Iceland, centred on Grid Ref.
461488/568107 (Lucas, 1998). The
region around Lake Mývatn lies on the
Ódáðahraun lava fields (Hjálmarsson and
Astridge, 1998). The proximity of the
farm to Mývatn and the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge means that this basalt will be quite
recent, less than 10,000 years old (Ibid.
1998).
Although the area of the present
homefield is generally level, both exca-
vation and geophysical evidence at
Hofstaðir show that the depth of soil
down to the geology is quite varied. In
one place, augering revealed that solid
rock was only 0.2m below the surface,
while the 1999 excavation of the pit-
house only c.60m away, extended to a
depth of almost 2m and had not hit
bedrock.
Archaeological deposits at Hofstaðir
are sealed between layers of aeolian
deposits, including sands and tephras
(Sigurgeirsson, 1998; Simpson et al.,
1998). The main tephra layers associated
with cultural deposits at the site include
the Landnám tephra, formed in 869-873
AD, H-1104/1158, V-1477 and V-1717
(Sigurgeirsson 1998), and a summary of
the tephrochronological studies at the site
may be found in this reference.
“Today, the farmland at Hofstaðir is
used for growing hay, usually cut and
dried in the first weeks of August. Turf
cutting has taken place on the site in
recent years” (Jónsson and Jónsson, pers.
comm.).
A variety of surface features exist at
Hofstaðir providing some evidence for
the subsurface archaeology. These
include the walls of the Viking-Age long-
house, the farm mound, turf boundary
banks and other slight earthworks indi-
cating the sites of former structures asso-
ciated with the farm. Geophysical inves-
tigations were undertaken over many of
these features, although only the results
from the survey over the farm mound and
the area immediately to the east are pre-
sented here.
Still in use, the present day homefield
is relatively flat and free of thufur,
although in places there are bands of par-
allel ruts, similar to those caused by
ploughing, but may be artefacts of turf-
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