Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 13

The Westfjords
seemed plausible to its medieval audi-
ence, and there is no special reason to
believe that this image was not close to
reality.
One of the articles in this vol-
ume describes a recent archaeological
find.1 In the summer of 2003, the investi-
gation of a small mound in a field near the
site of the medieval farm at Vatnsfjörður
brought to light evidence that undemeath
lay the remains of a Viking Age stmcture.
Excavations during the summer of 2004
confirmed this. A longhouse dating at
least to the tenth century and possibly
from the early Settlement period was
unearthed. This longhouse is just as big as
similar stractures dug up in southem
Iceland. Interestingly it has the same size,
structure and orientation as a longhouse
recently discovered in Reykjavík.
Pending analysis of radiocarbon dating
samples, it is impossible to say whether
the longhouse is from the late tenth cen-
tury or earlier. The evidence suggests,
however, that it is earlier. Until these
results are available, however, the Vatns-
Ijörður excavation has already brought
evidence that contradicts dominant think-
ing that the Westfjords were settled later
than other parts of the country, and by
poorer settlers. It suggests that this area
had its own particular resources that made
it a desirable region for settlement.
The comparatively small num-
ber of burial mounds dating from before
Christian times that have been found in
the region does not necessarily contradict
this idea.2 A systematic search for such
burial mounds has been planned in rela-
tionship with the Vatnsfjörður excavation
project and might yield some new infor-
mation about the settlement of the area.
Landnámabók is not the only
written account of the early centuries in
the history of the Westfjords. Several of
the sagas of Icelanders or Islendinga-
sögur also take place, partly or in full, in
the area. The most famous of these is
without doubt Gísla saga Súrssonar, of
which most of the action takes place in
Dýrafjörður and Amarijörður area. What
characterizes this and other sagas of this
type is their realism which expresses
itself, among other things, in a detailed
knowledge of the landscape by the
authors. They can therefore be used as
sources about different aspects of physi-
cal and human geography, even though it
must not be forgotten that they are also
works of art and sometimes realism has
to give way to the laws of fiction. In the
same way as for Landnámabók, the pic-
ture of social reality given by the sagas of
Icelanders can be assumed to be a plausi-
ble image of a two to three century dis-
tant past.
The sagas of Icelanders were
composed in the thirteenth and on into
the fourteenth century. They were not the
only type of saga. Of particular interest
for the history of the Westíjords are the
so-called contemporary sagas, most of
them only preserved in Sturlunga saga.3
This compilation from the early four-
teenth century of sagas composed in the
thirteenth tells about events ranging from
the 1120s in to the 1270s. Though some
of the authors are unknown, they are
1 Ragnar Edvardsson & Thomas McGovem, "Archaeological Excavations at Vatnsfjörður 2003-2004".
2 Adolf Friðriksson, "Fomleifar á Vestfjörðum", Ársrit Sögufélags Isfirðinga 43 (2003), p. 43-51.
3 The most recent edition is Ömólfur Thorsson et al., Sturlunga saga /-//, Svart á hvítu, Reykjavík 1988. Engl. transl. Julia
McGrew, Sturlunga saga I and II, Twayne Publishers, The Library of Scandinavian Literature 9-10, New York 1970-1974.
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