Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Page 105

Enduring Impacts: Viking Age Settlement in Iceland and Greenland
Baffin Bay
GREENLAND
Greenland
Sea
ISLAND
Norwegian
Rauðasandur&\
Borgarförður,
Westem j
Settlemenr
FAROE IS.
SHETLAND IS.
Eastem *
Setttement
•ORKNEY
| IS.
ÍOTLAND
HEBRIDES
Atlantic Ocean
IRELAND
L'Anse aux Meadows
ftÉli
INDLAND
Fig. 1. Location map
niche breadth in a first settlement situa-
tion. He was also a profoundly influential
figure, not only as the father of the far-
faring and adventurous Egill, but also as
a parent of settlement structure in one of
the most prosperous regions of Iceland.
As Smith (1995, 322, fig. 1) illustrates,
the area said in the 13th century saga to
have been claimed in the 9th century by
the industrious Skallagrímr would con-
tain the residences of four major chief-
tains in the 13th century and, it can be
added, up to 300 farmsteads. While the
enormous size of Skallagrímr’s land
claim must be considered as 13th century
speculation (Adolf Friðriksson & Orri
Vésteinsson in press) the basic makeup
of his economic structure with a large
central farm and numerous out-stations
making use of different environmental
niches, appears inherently plausible. The
presence of marine resources at early
Icelandic inland farms might persuade
the most hardened environmental posi-
tivist of the reality of both the influential
Skallagrímr and the lonely Oddr: Seal
remains have been recovered from the
southwestern site of Háls (Amorosi &
McGovern 1997); cod bones from the
northem sites of Granastaðir (Amorosi
1996, 339-72), Hofstaðir, where
salmonid bones and fragmentary bird egg
shell have also been uncovered in consid-
erable quantities (McGovern et al. 1998),
and Sveigakot (Tinsley 2001).
However, the period of initial settle-
ment in both Greenland and Iceland was
effectively prehistoric. The persuasive
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