Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Page 89

Brattahlíð reconsidered
Fig. 7. A view of the presumed church ruin in Qinngua, seen from the north. Notice the square
stone built dike. The ruin in the foreground is the presumed festal hall of the church farm.
Photo: O. Guldager, June 1999.
The size and appearance of the ruin
corresponds well with other known
(parish) churches in this region (for
instance in Sillisit, number 0 23 and
Nunataaq, number 0 1). The orientation
of the church is not exactly east-west, as
would be expected, but close enough; see
for instance the church in Narsarsuaq
(Vebæk 1991, 26). The location of the
church, in relation to the dwelling and
byre, is very similar to the layout of the
other church farms. The earth inside is
disturbed down to a depth of one metre,
just like the other known cemeteries in
the region (see Norlund & Stenberger
1934, 16).
When examined in more detail, the
outline of the dike reveals another inter-
esting phenomenon. On the western and
eastern side there seem to be the remains
of an earlier dike, which lies below the
other one. This (earlier) phase appears to
have had a slightly altemate orientation.
A similar change has been observed at
other church sites in Greenland and
Norway (see Keller 1989, 205, Vibe-
Muller 1986).
Finally, the dwelling situated north of
the church has a large stone built room in
the eastern end. This room (app. 13x8
metres) is likely to have been the festal
hall of the church farm (see fig. 7), corre-
sponding well with the halls that have
been found at other church farms, like
Garðar, Hvalsey and Herjólfsnes
(Berglund 1982).
So far, no graves have been found in
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