Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Síða 134

Gavin Lucas
Fig. 11. Chart showing the ratio of plan to section drawings in Arbok by decade.
are significant changes overall in the sub-
ject matter of images - whether photo-
graph or drawing. The proportion of
images of both artefacts and features
increases substantially in the mid 20th
century; whereas in the first decades of
Árbók, site location and structure plans
predominate the visual archive, by the
1940s, images of objects and features
equal if not exceed location and structure
plans (Figure 10). This shift must not be
read so much as a diminution of location
or structure plans as an increase in
images of objects and features. Images of
features in particular (such as fireplaces,
doorways etc.) constitute a new subject
genre, and one that is particularly inter-
esting when considered against changes
in the perspective and iconic conventions
of images.
In coming to the third of my cate-
gories in this survey, perspective is a fair-
ly straightforward element to study - gen-
erally images can be classified into three
types: produced from the eye of the
observer (positional), a birds-eye or God
view (plan) or as a cross section/slice
(section). Most photographs are general-
ly of the first (but not always), while
drawings chiefly of the latter two. Some
photographs are oriented to produce a
flat perspective (e.g. use of aerial photo-
graphs), while some drawings are ren-
dered positional - either as sketches
(early) or reconstructions (late).
Ftowever, the key development relates to
drawings, especially sections. If we take
just drawings, and focus on the ratio of
plan to section perspectives, there is a
clear shift in the 1930s where section
drawings suddenly increase and count for
about one to every three plans (Figure
11). A major reason for this shift almost
certainly relates to a new concem for
stratigraphy, initially in relation to the
identification of tephra layers and the
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