Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Page 87

Brattahlíð reconsidered
bly the largest of all known Norse sites,
with an estimated floor area of 4652
square metres, or about twice the size of
the farm site in Qassiarsuk. The farm
seems to consist of three holdings - a
very large one in the centre (could be two
holdings) with a dwelling, and two or
three byres of extraordinary length.
South of the large holding lies a smaller
one, with a dwelling, byre and a few
other structures. The resemblance
between this farm and the smaller hold-
ing at the Qassiarsuk farm is evident.
Athird average size holding lies to the
east, on a low hill facing the fjord. Even
though smaller than the central one, it is
certainly no less interesting, because of
an apparently hitherto unknown church
site.
A Church Forgotten
As mentioned, we know of 17 churches
in the entire Eastern Settlement today.
Some of these were already located in the
18th century, whereas others have been
discovered within the last 50 years
(Vebæk 1991). It is likely that a few
churches are yet to be found.
I will have to stand corrected, saying
that the church site in Qinngua has been
unknown to this day. Mogens
Clemmensen in fact discovered it as
early as 1910 (Clemmensen 1911, 325).
Even though mentioned in the literature,
the site seems to have been forgotten or
ignored until the 1970s, when it was
revisited by Albrethsen (1971)'. He made
a sample excavation there and it proved
1 The site is mentioned by Norlund & Stenberger (1934, 18). It seems that Norlund conducted a sample
excavation there in 1932, in order to verify the presumed church site. Apparently, he was not successful
in finding any human remains.
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