Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2004, Page 137

The Visual Archive in Icelandic Archaeology
Fig. 15. Composite phase plan of the various buildings at Bergþórshvoll, by Eldjárn and
Gestsson (Arbók 1951).
lack of accurate measurements taken.
Topography rendered as contours is no
more accurate than hachures - indeed,
most drawings with contours fail to give
any elevations. Finally, archaeological
remains are always rendered iconically to
some degree; many of the earlier struc-
ture plans use iconic stones and walls and
today, we might describe these plans as
highly schematic. However, while later
drawings appear to be more realistic - the
stones reproduce the outline of those in
the ground, as do the walls - still the
reduction of stones and walls to their out-
line in plan remains an iconic conven-
tion, as do shadings of layers in section
(Figure 12).
Beginning with the use of scales,
Figure 13 shows the ratio of drawings
with and without a scale (where a scale
would be applicable) by decade; quite
clearly major changes occur in the 1890s
and then more dramatically in the 1950s.
This suggests a greater concem perhaps
for precision. The precision adopted in
the 1890s was not so much related to
measurements of mins per se - these are
often given in the text; but rather to the
precision of the drawing. In other words,
the use of a scale can perhaps be read as
the establishment of drawings as techni-
cal records rather than sketches - as
records in their own right and not simply
illustrative of the text. These develop-
ments are almost single-handedly the
work of Daniel Bmun and his subsequent
influence - or lack of it on early 20th cen-
tury Icelandic archaeology. Indeed
Bruun's impact on archaeological illus-
tration in Iceland was pivotal, as was his
work in general.
The second, more dramatic shift in the
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