Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Page 60

Bruno Berson
It must be stressed however that this idea
of a gradual distancing of byres from
dwellings in the course of the first cen-
turies after the settlement of Iceland is
not based on extensive or sound evi-
dence. For most of the sites the datings
are insecure and in some cases there is
dispute over the age to a degree of more
than 200 years.
Phases of occupation
Many archaeological sites in Iceland and
especially farm sites have evidence of
several periods of occupation. Different
phases of dwellings are evidenced by
thick floor layers and signs of repair and
rebuilding of individual houses. Unlike
the dwellings there are no known cases of
different phases of use of a byre. Is this
difference signifícant?
It is true that in many cases the inatten-
tion or lack of interest on behalf of the
excavators may be the explanation.
Many of the excavated byres received
only the most cursory investigation - in
most of the Þjórsárdalur sites the excava-
tors let it sufFice to brush loose sand and
tephra oflf the byre ruins but did not real-
ly excavate the buildings in such a way
that eventual earlier phases would have
come to light. It should also be pointed
out that the assemblage is biased towards
sites with a short occupation. However at
sites like Bergþórshvoll and Lundur, both
with continuous occupation for 1000
years or more, the byres seem only to
have a single phase.
This might indicate that byres were -
unlike the dwellings - not as a rule rebuilt
in the same place but a new place was
found for it everytime a rebuilding
became neccesary. This might tie into
the idea that the location of byres some
distance from the dwellings was occa-
sioned by the need to spread manure over
the homefield. This would make perfect
sense if the byres were moved regularly
around the homefíeld in order to inten-
sively manure new parts of the field.
It should also be considered that byres
may not have been regular or permanent
features ofevery farmstead. It is possible
that the byres signify periodical intensifí-
cation of dairy farming but that in differ-
ent times and places purpose-built byres
were not neccesary because the milch-
cows were few in number and could be
stalled in other buildings and the rest of
the cattle were able to graze outside for
the majority of the year and/or had dif-
ferent sorts of shelters.
This also raises the question of how the
herds developed. Zooarchaeological
studies at Hofstaðir í Mývatnssveit
(McGovem et al. 1998) suggest that the
numbers of cattle increased relative to
sheep and goats in the lOth and 1 lth cen-
turies and also that overall the numbers
of sheep and goat decreased. These
changes should be reflected in the animal
shelters - which have not as yet been
found at Hofstaðir.
Future work
It is clear that the number of excavated
byres in Iceland are too small to base any
firm conclusions on and that most of the
questions posed here need further
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