Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 50

Frans-Arne Stylegar
SOME NOTES ON EARTHWORKS AND DYKES IN
ICELAND AND IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC
The paper discusses some similarities between substantial earthworks in Suður-
Þingeyjarsýsla (presented in Archls vol 2) and the 'great chains' of hill dykes
formd in W Norway and in the Scottish Northem isles. It is suggested that the sim-
ilarities between the three systems of earthworks are caused by their originating
from a similar settlement structure and farming system in the Early Medieval peri-
od, and that this system was introduced in the North Atlantic after Scandinavian,
specifically W Norwegian, models.
Frans-Arne Stylegar, Vest-Agder Jylkeskommune, Serviceboks 5
N-4605 Kristiansand, Norway
E-mail: fransarne.stylegar@vaf.no
Keywords: Earthworks, dykes, landnám, settlement structure
Introduction
A complex system of interconnected
earthworks in the county of Suður-
Þingeyjarsýsla, NE-Iceland, is discussed
in Arch. Isl. vol 2 (Einarsson, Hansson &
Vésteinsson 2002). These extensive, turf-
built earthworks have been known from
this area as well as from other parts of
Iceland for a long time; the structures in
Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla were discussed by
Kristian Kálund as early as in the 1870s
(Kálund 1879:164). As there appears to
be some interesting similarities between
the earthworks in Iceland and structures
found in Orkney and Shetland and in W
Norway, this paper gives a description of
the structures in the latter areas, and sug-
gests possible interpretations that could
have some relevance for Iceland, as well.
Regarding the earthworks in Suður-
Þingeyjarsýsla the preliminary, but high-
ly interesting conclusion of the above-
mentioned study is that they date írom
the Middle Ages and form a pattem
which suggests they once functioned as
boundaries between adjacent farms (the
transverse earthworks) and between the
farms' homelands and the commons (the
horizontal earthworks, see Einarsson,
Hansson & Vésteinsson 2002:61).
Dykes and earthworks
Today, both the Orkney and the W
Norwegian farming landscape are char-
acterised by many stone fences. But in
Archaeologia Islandica 3 (2004) 48-60