Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Page 91

Brattahlíð reconsidered
Sólarfjöllum churches have been more
puzzling though. It is believed by Vebæk
(1991, 15) and Krogh (1982b, 269) that
the church found in Sillisit (number 0
23) is Undir Sólarfjöllum, but it could
just as well be Harðsteinaberg. The old
Norse name of this place and the modem
Greenlandic name are synonymous, both
pertaining to the so-called Igaliku sand-
stone, which is abundant there, and was
used by both cultures as whetstones
(Vebæk 1966). As mentioned, the loca-
tion of the Leiðar church in Qassiarsuk
(number 0 29a) has been beyond discus-
sion.
The presence of a church in Qinngua
would, however, simplify the identifica-
tion of the churches completely, suggest-
ing that:
-Dýmes church is in Narsaq (number
0 18).
-Harðsteinaberg church is in Sillisit
(number 0 23).
-Undir Sólarljöllum church is in
Qassiarsuk (number 0 29a).
-Leiðar church is in Qinngua (number
0 39).
Placing the Leiðar church and the
Brattahlíð farm in Qinngua instead of
Qassiarsuk does not only solve the ques-
tion of the location of the churches in this
fjord. It also corresponds exactly with
Bárðarssons description of Brattahlíð, in
that it is situated at the inner part of the
fjord, with a parish stretching from near
the fjord's end and out on the other (east-
em) side.
The Social Structure of the Eastern
Settlement.
When locating the large farms, another
interesting phenomenon was observed.
The church farms were in general not
among the largest in the settlement, even
though exceptions are evident, the most
prominent ones being the Qinngua
church farm (0 39) and Garðar (0 47).
This certainly questions existing theo-
ries of the social structure of the sociefy,
often viewed as being dominated by the
church and with strong dependencies on
European administration (see McGovem
1981, 1985, 1991, 1992 and Berglund
1982, 1986, 1991).
If the church controlled the society,
one would expect that these farms were
the largest. But this does not appear to be
the case.
How then, was this society organized?
When looking over the map showing the
distribution of the large farms and the
church farms (fig. 8), it seems that they
are spread out quite evenly in the fjords,
each probably dominating the surround-
ing region.
On closer inspection, the distribution
indicates that some of these were
grouped in pairs, situated only a few
kilometres apart. In all cases but one, the
pair consists of a very large farm with an
excellent location (and in a few cases
with a private chapel) and within a few
kilometres lies another farm with a parish
church.
In my opinion, this grouping of promi-
nent farms represents the society in
which it functioned - the largest ones
being the chieftain's farms, and the origi-
nal centres of the settlement. Together
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