Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 110

Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir
there are reasons to doubt this and I
believe that the picture that Eldjám drew
of the skáli does not show the skáli in its
original phase but rather shows the skáli
in a later phase.
A strong argument can be made for
inferring a division of the skáli into two
halves is a later re-use of the building and
that originally it was one whole space
like most Icelandic Viking age skáli.
According to this argument, the partition
wall was built later, to close off the part
of the skáli that Eldjám chooses to call
the kitchen.
Various lines of evidence support this
theory especially for the first phase of the
skáli in Klaufanes as originally undivid-
ed.
1. The partition wall itself gives clear
indications of being from a different
phase than the other walls of the build-
ing:
- The partition wall is thicker than the
outer walls. It was 1,3-1,9 m wide
while the outer walls were only about
1,25 m wide. It must be considered
unlikely that such a grand wall was
built to divide the skáli into two parts
at the same time as the outer walls of
the building are made much less sub-
stantial.
- The partition wall is made from a dif-
ferent material than the outer walls.
The outer walls were mostly built with
turf although few stones were used.
Eldjám was a little surprised by this
but still sayed it was common that the
first settlers built their houses from
turf but only found out later how many
advantages the stonewalls had over
the turf ones and then changed their
building material. The partition wall
was solely made from stones. If it was
built at the same time as the outer
walls it seems odd that most of the
stones used in the building were used
on that.
- Besides being made of stones and
therefore being different from the
outer walls, the partition wall was also
higher than the outer walls.1
2. Another fact that supports the theory
that the skáli in Klaufanes originally was
one, undivided space is the stone lining
that marked the seating against the long
walls. The stone line, according to
Eldjám, stretched along the entire length
of the wall. This means that the seating
was also apparent in the kitchen part. It is
unlikely that this would be the case had
the partition wall been built when the
seating was built. It seems more likely
that the reason why the seating was up
against the whole length of the skáli is
simply that when it was built there was
no partition wall that divided the skáli
into two.
3. The third argument for the theory of
more than one building phase in the skáli
in Klaufanes is the clue that the floor
layer gives. The floor layer in the kitchen
part was spread up against the partition
wall. In the skáli part Eldjám does not
mention that the floor layer does the
same. On the contrary he claimed that he
1 KE thought the partition wall was never higher than it was when excavated, that it was some sort of a "half
wall" and supporting this he says is the fact that the ash goes in between the stones in the wall, see Eldjám,
Kristján, 1943,21.
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