Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 27

Archaeological Excavations at Vatnsfjörður 2003-04
A
Figure 3. The later occapation phase
the centre of the former longhouse, par-
tially covering the southem end of the
hearth. The turf in the new wall was sim-
ilar to the turf in the longhouse walls and
was probably also of the strengur type.
A new hearth was constmcted west of the
older hearth. This hearth, however, was
smaller (1.50 x 1.50 meters) and it was
clear that stones had been removed after
the abandonment of the stmcture. The
hearth appears to have been rectangular
with upright stones along the edges and
flat stones in between. North of the older
hearth a large circular hole had been dug
into the subsoil damaging the northem
end of the hearth. This hole had a diame-
ter of approximately 1 meter and was full
of small fire cracked rocks.
The floor deposits of the later
occupation phase were black, compact
with charcoal and bumt bones. No clear
interfaces between the longhouse floor
and the later floor were visible which
suggest that the later occupation phase
followed immediately after the earlier
longhouse phase. A number of iron
objects were found in the floor deposits
and most of them were nails. These
objects possibly came from the timber
frame of the building, i.e. posts, beams
and paneling as the building collapsed.
No tangible evidence was
recorded which would enable the deter-
mination of the function of this later
building. The floor deposits are typical
for a house occupied by humans and not
animals and therefore it is highly unlike-
ly that the house was an outhouse for ani-
mals. The position of it, quite a distance
from the farm mound and the presence of
25