Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 41

ZOOARCHAEOLOGY, HlSTORY AND LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY AT FlNNBOGASTAÐIR IN THE 18TH CENTURY
(home base, i.e. físhing directly from
their farms). Both districts have verstöð-
var (físhing stations) located somewhere
within their boundaries. In the 18th cen-
tury the Ámes district had a físhing sta-
tion at Gjögur but prior to the 18th centu-
ry two other verstöðvar, Akurvík and
Ávík, were located in the area. It is inter-
esting to note that all stations in the
Ámes district are in a close proximity,
within a radius of 6 km from each other.
In the Kaldrananes district the main ver-
stöð in the 18th century was at Skreflur
but earlier another had been at Sauratún
about 1 km south of Skreflur.
Farmers físhing from their heimræði
would mainly catch smaller cod and
other species which were not suitable for
stockfísh production but were good for
domestic use. The location of the heim-
rœði was not that important for the físh-
ing economy of the district but for the
farmers on the poorer farms the heimrœði
and the ready access to inshore fishing it
provided were often the determining fac-
tors between life and death. Heimræði
were usually located anywhere along the
shoreline were topography provided a
safe landing and minimal shelter.
The location of a verstöð was more
important as they were probably more
specialized sites aiming more at optimiz-
ing access to target species and to deep
water fishing in general. These verstöð-
var were thus key elements in any strate-
gy of large scale intensification of marine
resource use, and especially for reliably
producing the físh products that were
more suitable for commercial purposes.
Deep water físhing was focused on
catching the larger sized cod which could
be used for stockfish production and at
shark fishing which was caught mainly
for shark liver. Stockfish and shark liver
oil were probably both the most impor-
tant exchange items within the Ámes dis-
trict and generators of cash income as
both could either be sold at a market or
stored at a farm for later use. Long term
storability of stockfish and shark liver oil
(up to several years) also provided a bit
of flexibility to the domestic economies
ofNW fanners, allowing them to "bank"
particularly successful catches against
hard times.
Cultural Seascapes and Marine
Catchments
The sea provides as many constraints to
ífee movement as the land, and is not
well understood as a wet version of the
locational geographer's theoretical uni-
form featureless plain. Added to the usual
issues of geodesic and pheric distance,
least effort constraints, and movement
costs is the overwhelming role of hazard
reduction in any marine sea-use strategy.
Most fishermen died young in the 18th-
19th century and the trade is still one of
the world's most dangerous occupations.
Wind and weather effects are highly vari-
able in NW Iceland, but some recurring
pattems will tend to condition access to
the deep sea from different potential ter-
restrial landing points. Any verstöð had
to be located as close to the deep water
físhing grounds as possible so boats
could reach the físhing grounds and
retum in the shortest time possible. In the
18th century most fishing was carried out
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