Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 75

ICELANDIC FARMHOUSE EXCAVATIONS: FlELD METHODS AND SITE CHOICES
that such analysis is a precondition for a
successful re-interpretation of the sites
(Lucas 1998). In 2000-2002 a joint
Icelandic - Danish - Norwegian project
called Vestnordisk byggeskikk i vikingtid
og middelalder focused amongst other
things on the archaeological expeditions
to Greenland and Iceland in the 1920s
and 1930s - particularly the Nordic expe-
dition to SW Iceland in 1939 - and how
this early research has shaped the current
paradigm of West-Norse building cus-
toms. Analysis of the field records and
limited re-excavation of one of the sites
(Skallakot - see below) suggested that the
current paradigm is as much shaped by
early 20th century culture-historical atti-
tudes as empirical fieldwork, and that in
fact the fieldwork often served primarily
to substantiate previously conceived
ideas and was as a rule remarkably limit-
ed as an investigative endeavour.
In this introduction a summary of
Icelandic farmstead archaeology to date
will be presented. First the geographical,
temporal and status distribution of exca-
vated farm sites will be discussed, and a
brief description given of the state of
publication of the excavated material.
Following this an outline will be given of
the main developments of field methods
from the inception of Icelandic archaeol-
ogy to the present, concluding with a
summary of the representativeness of the
Icelandic excavation material.
Distribution by period
If we begin to look at the distribution of
the sites by period it becomes immediate-
ly clear that the majority of the sites are
from the earliest period. More than half
of all Icelandic farm sites that have been
excavated are from the Viking age or
have Viking age levels. This figure
becomes even more striking if the eight
Þjórsárdalur sites are considered to be of
late Viking age date as traditional schol-
arship has claimed. If they really are so
old - and not from the high middle ages
as was originally thought and some
recent critics have proposed anew - then
the Viking age can claim 28 out of 36
datable sites. The two sites with uncer-
tain dating are also most likely of an
early date emphasising this bias even
more.
Sites with high- and/or late medieval
levels (i.e. AD 1100-1600) are somewhat
fewer (11) although if the Þjórsárdalur
sites are added to this number it becomes
more respectable (19). Early modern
sites are the most rare at 8.
While early modem sites are numeri-
cally much fewer than the medieval and
Viking age ones, they completely over-
shadow the latter in terms of excavation
time and in terms of number of artefacts
recovered. In other words much more
time has been spent on the relatively few
early modem sites than the majority of
the early sites and the excavation
archives of the recent sites are vastly
larger. This is primarily due to trends in
site-choice and excavation methods dis-
cussed below.
There are distinct trends as to which
periods have been most favoured by
excavators. The earliest concentrated
exclusively on sites considered to be
from the Commonwealth period (930-
1262), with an emphasis on sites with an
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