Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 105

Excavation in Klaufanes, Northern Iceland
ruin to Matthías Þórðarson, the state anti-
quarian, who gave him permission to
excavate the site.
Methods used in Klaufanes
Eldjám started the excavation on the 26th
of August 1940. It lasted about 6 weeks
or until 9th of November. During this
time heavy rain and snow limited the
work so that it was only possible to work
9 days in this period.
Most days Eldjám had one person
helping him excavate, usually colleagues
from the grammar school in Akureyri
where Eldjám was working during that
time. In all, about 150 working hours
were spent on the job.
The excavation was in many ways old
fashioned for its time. Eldjám's only real
aim was to affirm/refute the Svarfdœla
story about Klaufi's farm. He did not
have any formal research questions and
in many ways the excavation was similar
to those done in Iceland in the late 19th
century. The methodology was also in the
spirit of earlier excavations; Eldjám only
dug the inside of the min and only down
to the floor layers, but not the walls or the
floor layers themselves.3
The fact that hardly any finds were
recovered during the excavation is inter-
esting. Only three stones with natural
holes were found and Eldjám concluded
that they had either been used as net
weights or loom weights. A few horse
teeth were found and also a "...few bones,
f
-*
í
Fig. 2. The skáli in Klaufanes at the end of excavation. Eldjárn 1943.
3 It should be mentioned that the latter is not quiet clear in Eldjám’s article. He claimed that he cleared the
ruin ("ryðja tóftina") but cleaned the floor layer ("hreinsa gólfskán"). .
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