Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2002, Page 107

Endurjng Impacts: Viking Age Settlement in Iceland and Greenland
farmsteads or whether they were domi-
nated by larger socio-economic struc-
tures in the form of chiefly estates. In
addressing these issues, we will make use
of both 9th - Uth century archaeological
and environmental data and patterning in
later farm distribution in Iceland and
Greenland.
Contemporary Evidence
While a number of 9th - lOth century
sites have been excavated and dated in
Iceland and a few deposits have been
investigated dating to the later
Greenlandic landnám of the 1 lth century,
most attempts to map the process of set-
tlement chronologically (Smith 1995)
have been hampered by very uneven pat-
terns of research effort and accidental
discovery (see Bjarni Einarsson 1994,
46-67). It is probably premature to gener-
alize from the few early sites we can now
map to a direct reconstruction of 9th -
1 Oth century settlement pattern in either
Iceland or Greenland. However, while
we may still be forced to discuss points
rather than patterns, some generalizations
can be made on the basis of what we now
know of early settlement and subsistence.
Dating the settlement process.
While only a handful of sites in Iceland
can be positively dated to the late 9th
century the emerging picture is of a very
rapid colonization of the whole country
in a matter of decades after the fírst set-
tlers arrived. This is not only suggested
by a growing number of early radiocar-
bon dates (the interpretation of which has
been problematic as they tend to give too
high an age - see discussion by Olsson
1999) but more importantly by the now
more or less secure dating of the so-
called Landnám tephra. This tephra is
frequently observed immediately below
the earliest archaeological deposits at a
high number of sites. Trace elements of
this tephra have been found in the
Greenland ice sheet which have allowed
its dating to AD 871±2 (Karl Grönvold et
al. 1995). Claims have been made for
human disturbance beneath this horizon
but none of them have been substantiat-
ed, whereas in a number of sites (e.g.
Herjólfsdalur, Bessastaðir, Reykjavík,
Seltjarnarnes and Sveigakot in
Mývatnssveit) it is clear that people had
arrived and started building houses in a
matter of a few years after the tephra was
deposited (Orri Vésteinsson 1998, 4).
While the majority of these sites are on
the coast, Sveigakot is more than 60 km
from the sea and more than 280 m above
sea level. Indications of early occupation
are also available írom the inland areas of
Hálsasveit (Smith 1995), Þjórsárdalur
(Sigurður Þórarinsson 1944) and from a
number of sites on the highland margins
in the North and East (Sigurður
Þórarinsson 1977, Sveinbjörn Rafnsson
1990, Guðrún Sveinbjamardóttir 1992).
Pollen analytical studies point in the
same general direction. Claims have even
been made for evidence for cereal grow-
ing in Reykjavík prior to the deposition
of the Landnám tephra (Margrét
Hallsdóttir 1987) and a marked change is
consistently noted in pollen columns in
association with this tephra. In multiple
cores and profiles, birch pollen (Betula
sp.) drop drastically whereas grass pollen
(Poceae) increase correspondingly and
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