Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 60

Ragnar Edvardsson
These sites increase in number in the
period between 1800 and 1900. There
seems to be a connection between the
offshore bases and social conditions at
any given period. In the 17th and 18th
century, fishing went into decline at a
time of environmental, social and politi-
cal changes. The increase of fishing sites
in from mid 19th century into the 20th
century, also seem to correspond to more
favorable conditions environmentally,
politically and socially in Iceland.
(Barlow 2001, 106; Júlíusson 1996, 212-
212).
Fishing increased dramatically
in the period between the mid-19th to
early 20th century. This was mainly due
to the industrialization of the fishing
industry and the lifting of bans and regu-
lations that limited the industry. New
types of boats with engines appeared
making it possible to go farther out to sea
than had earlier been possible.
These changes made the fishing
stations unnecessary as the distance to
the offshore fishing grounds no longer
mattered. Many offshore fishing sites
were abandoned. Others changed from a
fishing station to a fishing village as
more and more people flocked to the
shore to participate in the booming fish-
ing industry. Only the sites that had been
established in a favorable environment
changed to fishing villages; others were
completely abandoned.
Unfortunately, the fishing vil-
lages often completely destroyed the
physical remains of the earlier fishing
stations and in other cases the stations
were destroyed by road or other types of
construction. The largest fishing stations
in Vestfirðir were Bolungarvík, which
became a fishing village and Kálfadalur,
in the vicinity of Bolungarvík, which was
completely destroyed by road construc-
tion between 1960 and 1970. Very few
offshore bases lasted into the 20th centu-
ry. Those that did survive, were finally
abandoned by the mid-20th century. The
offshore fishing station of Skreflur, in the
district of Kaldrananes, lasted until the
1940s after which all fishing in the area
had moved to the village of Drangsnes.
(Ömefnaskrá Kaldbaks í Kaldrananes-
hreppi)
The rapid developments in
Vestfirðir caused the near destmction of
sites with the offshore bases and today
there are few remains left for study. Also
it must be considered that some stations
were sited so close to a farm that the fish-
ermen could remain on that farm
ovemight or for longer periods and in
these cases there was no need to build
booths to live in during the fishing sea-
son. Such sites have left little physical
remains. This can clearly be seen on the
island of Bjameyjar in Breiðafjörður were
no fishing booths are visible only mas-
sive boat-landings, constructed with
large rocks and boulders.
Results of Archaeological Investigations
As mentioned above, the research was
divided into two main parts; archaeolog-
ical survey and excavation. The archaeo-
logical survey focused mainly on the off-
shore fishing bases in two regions; (i) the
area surrounding the mouth of Isa-
fjarðardjúp and the immediate area south
of the Isafjarðardjúp in Isafjarðarsýsla,
and (ii) various areas in Ames- and
Kaldrananes districts in Strandasýsla.
Isafjarðarsýsla and Strandasýsla were
chosen partially because the oldest fish-
ing sites mentioned in the written sources
are located in these areas and also to see
if there were any differences between the
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