Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 9

Gavin Lucas
EDITORIAL
This third issue of Archaeologia
Islandica presents yet another diverse set
of papers. Klavs Randsborg opens up
with provocative and at times con-
tentious reflections on the history,
archaeology and ethnography of
Greenland, with particular focus on early
historiography and the colonial relations
between that country and Denmark.
Moving on to a completely different sub-
ject, Edvardsson et al. skillfully address
the nature of post-medieval subsistence
practices in the northwest of Iceland
through analysis of the farm of
Finnbogastaðir. Working zooarchaeolog-
ical data with documentary sources, they
show how a local community coped with
hard times by expanding their economic
base. In his paper on linear earthworks,
Frans-Ame Stylegar's article is both a
commentary on an earlier paper to appear
in this joumal (see Einarsson et al,
Archaeologia Islandica Volume 2) and
takes a broader look at such monuments
in a North Atlantic perspective. His study
of similar earthworks in western Norway
and the Northem isles of Scotland pro-
vides stimulating, comparative material
to that found in Iceland.
A new methodology is presented in
Steinberg’s paper, which examins the
potential of studying organic content in
turf. Although the implications of the
research remain to be developed,
Steinberg offers us a novel way of look-
ing at archaeological material which
could give new insight into the interpre-
tation of turf structures.
The first four papers are all stand
alone articles, treating very different
themes; however, the remaining papers
in this volume form a thematic section on
the history of archaeological fieldwork in
Iceland. Vésteinsson's paper provides an
excellent introduction to the develop-
ment of field methods, and provides the
crucial context for the papers which fol-
low. These include critical re-examina-
tions of sites excavated by two of the
leading Icelandic archaeologists of the
mid 20th century, Kristjan Eldjám and
Gísli Gestsson. Hreiðarsdóttir examines
Eldjám's first solo project at Klaufanes,
and addresses some of the problems with
Eldjám's interpretation in the broader
context of his experience and theoretical
perspective. Ævarsson performs a similar
analysis on Gestsson's excavation at
Gröf, and takes a more philosophical
view on the nature of interpretation with-
in Icelandic archaeology. The final paper
by Lucas returns to a broader frame and
examines changes in the technical
imagery used in archaeological reports in
Iceland over the 20th century.
Despite the relatively slow tumover,