Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 124

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 124
Gavin Lucas But how is the authority of such images created? Tell two different people to draw a section or an artefact, and you will get two different images; of this much, most fíeld archaeologists are no doubt aware. But the real issue is whether such differences can simply be reduced to technical efficiency, experience or skill. For if not, then we must face the question that different ways of seeing the archaeology will produce different archaeological images. That in fact, terms such as accuracy, objectivity or clarity, when used to assess archaeologi- cal imagery are not absolute or solid cri- teria, but constructed. Moreover, in this light, the deployment of convention - especially to excess - only serves, ironi- cally to mask the constructed nature of these criteria, by offering a uniformity to the visual archive which impacts back upon our conception of the archaeologi- cal record. The question at stake here, is the extent to which archaeological imagery constructs the archaeological record and as a corollorary, constitutes the nature of archaeological practice. It is such a question that I want to explore here through an examination of the visu- al archive in Icelandic archaeology since the late 19th century. Archaeological Illustration and Photography in Iceland As in most European countries, archaeol- ogy began in Iceland in the mid 19th cen- tury, and by the tum of the century, had become more or less professionalized - though the number of archaeologists was small, usually only one major figure in any generation (Friðriksson 1994: 8). Peculiar to Iceland was a strong connec- tion between archaeology and a rich liter- ary tradition, specifically the Sagas, which influenced the whole nature of archaeological investigation, even until quite recently (ibid.). Less unique, was the association between archaeology and the development of nationalism. As in most European countries, archaeology in Iceland was closely entwined with nationalistic sentiment and through its focus on the Golden Age of the Settlement period - i.e. the Viking settle- ment remains, archaeology helped to cre- ate a sense of national identity against the recent history of Danish colonialism. This broad social and political context has undoubtedly determined the over-rid- ing emphasis given to Viking archaeolo- gy in the country, a situation which per- sists to this day, especially in the eyes of the wider international community, though this is now slowly changing. One might explore how the production of popular imagery of this Viking past drew on Icelandic archaeology, but that is not my concern here. Rather, I want to specifically focus on the relationship between technical illustration and inter- pretation. Generally archaeologists produced their own images, and given the few pro- fessional archaeologists working in Iceland - at least until the 1980s, the his- tory and development of archaeological illustration in the country is inextricably linked to individuals and their styles. Sigurður Vigfusson, Brynjúlfur Jónsson, Þorsteinn Erlingsson, Daniel Bmun, 122
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
Page 51
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
Page 61
Page 62
Page 63
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66
Page 67
Page 68
Page 69
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
Page 78
Page 79
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 84
Page 85
Page 86
Page 87
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 93
Page 94
Page 95
Page 96
Page 97
Page 98
Page 99
Page 100
Page 101
Page 102
Page 103
Page 104
Page 105
Page 106
Page 107
Page 108
Page 109
Page 110
Page 111
Page 112
Page 113
Page 114
Page 115
Page 116
Page 117
Page 118
Page 119
Page 120
Page 121
Page 122
Page 123
Page 124
Page 125
Page 126
Page 127
Page 128
Page 129
Page 130
Page 131
Page 132
Page 133
Page 134
Page 135
Page 136
Page 137
Page 138
Page 139
Page 140
Page 141
Page 142
Page 143
Page 144
Page 145
Page 146
Page 147
Page 148

x

Archaeologia Islandica

Direct Links

If you want to link to this newspaper/magazine, please use these links:

Link to this newspaper/magazine: Archaeologia Islandica
https://timarit.is/publication/1160

Link to this issue:

Link to this page:

Link to this article:

Please do not link directly to images or PDFs on Timarit.is as such URLs may change without warning. Please use the URLs provided above for linking to the website.