Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Page 48

Bruno Berson
Fig. 12: The byre and the barn at Hvítárholt (structure VI). After Magnússon, 1967.
10). The structure was divided into three
aisles, the central one paved from the
door to the middle of the room, 6,3 m in
length in all. Traces of stall-divisions
were seen in the form of fallen slabs on
the westem side of the paving. The floor
of the whole building sloped consider-
ably, with a 1,25 m differnce in height
between the innermost part and the
entrance on the southem gable. The
function of the inner half of the building
- north of the end of the pavement - was
unclear. In the middle of the house
remains of ironworking were found, not
necessarily coterminuous with the use of
the rest of the building as a byre. Like
Stöng and Þórarinsstaðir the ruins were
full of pumice from the 1104 eruption of
Hekla and the excavator concluded that
the farm had been abandoned as result of
this eruption and had only been occupied
for a short period before that. However,
a section through the byre shows that 20-
30 sm of aeolian soil had accumulated on
the floor before the pumice was deposit-
ed, suggesting a similar set-up as at
Stöng, where the 1104 pumice has been
shown to have infilled the abandoned
structure in the 13th century as a result of
erosion (Vilhjálmur Örn Vilhjálmsson
1989).
From 1962 to 1967 Þór Magnússon exca-
vated the site Hvítárholt in
Hrunamannahreppur. It is situated on a
rise just south of River Hvítá, in the
upper parts of the southern lowlands (fig-
ure 11). Some 10 structures were uncov-
ered, among them three longhouses of
Viking age type. Five sunken huts were
also excavated, some predating the long-
houses. The two others buildings were a
byre with a bam (VI) and a supposed
barn (II) postdating one of the longhous-
es.
The byre was situated some 30 m from
the main cluster of buildings at
Hvítárholt (Figure 12). It measured
about 10 x 5 m on the inside, but precise
measurements could not be made as the
walls were very indistinct. They were
made of turf which contained the so-
called Landnám tephra from 871±2. The
byre was divided into three aisles, the
central one partly paved with flat stones.
Along the walls the stalls had been sepa-
rated by wooden planks evidenced by
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