Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Blaðsíða 59

COMMERCIAL AND SUBSISTANCE FlSHING IN VESTFIRÐIR
Excavation on the other hand,
does provide some relevant differentia-
tion to support function. For instance,
inshore fishing stations seem to have
smaller and more varied species of físh
associated with them. In contrast, off-
shore físhing stations tend to single out
fish of a similar species, usually cod, and
of uniformproportions. In other words,
the offshore físhing stations demonstrate
a more or less homogenous sample of
large cod. (Amundsen, et al. in press; Ed-
vardsson, 2003)
Based on the information
revealed from surveys and excavation, it
can be seen that the historical divisions,
while correct and relative when speaking
about the historical past and understand-
ing the culture; cannot be recognized in
the archaeological record. Such historical
divisions are also overlapping in terms of
their own definitions. Thus, it seems that
a new classification should be developed
based on the offshore/inshore distinction
and not historical categorization. The rest
of this paper will focus on those fishing
stations that can be categorized as off-
shore fishing bases and would therefore
primarily have a commercial function. In
these cases the sea and its resources were
the important factor when it came to their
location in the landscape. For other fish-
ing bases that were only subsistence or
mixed, the sea would also have played an
important role but other factors need to
be taken into account.
Offshore Fishing Sites in Vestfirðir
General fishing sites in Vestfirðir are
numerous as most farms had access to
the sea. However, sites that can be cate-
gorized as offshore bases in the 18th cen-
tury are very few and most of them in the
northem area of the Vestfirðir peninsula.
57