Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Qupperneq 71

An Extensive System of Medieval Earthworks
Fig. 6: Five profiles measured at 10 m intervals across an earthwork at Fljótsheiði.
Hœðarmælingar áfimm þversniðum með 10 m. millibili yfir garð á Fljótsheiði nálœgt þjóðveginum.
6). The earthwork proper was 5 m wide
and rose 0.8-1.0 m above the bottom of
the trenches. The infield dyke at
Hofstaðir in Mývatn (which was investi-
gated during archaeological excavations
on the farm in 1999), is much less sub-
stantial, some 2 m wide at the base and 1
m high, with only a 0.6 m wide and 0.3 m
deep ditch on the outside.5
Discussion
The earthwork system in our study area
forms the most extensive archaeological
feature known in Iceland. Three main
conclusions can be drawn from the avail-
able data:
(1) the fact that the earthworks form a
coherent system suggests that they were
^ Lucas 1999.
built and maintained in the same period;
(2) the pattern of earthworks suggests
that they reflect property division and
(3) the earthworks were built as fences to
manage the pastures.
Although the width might well have
made the earthworks useful as walkways,
riding paths or herding routes, this must
have been a secondary function as the
dykes only rarely connect points which
people or animals might actually have
been travelling between. It is also likely
that this function only became viable
after the earthworks began to collapse
and became flattened out.
The date of the dykes has not been
determined yet. A mid-nineteenth centu-
ry parish description from the area
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