Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 61

COMMERCIAL AND SUBSISTANCE FlSHING IN VESTFIRÐIR
eastern and western regions of the
Vestfirðir peninsula.
All known físhing sites in the
district of Kaldrananes were surveyed:
Skreflur, Sauratún, Búðarvogur and
Drangsnes; two sites in the district of
Ameshreppur: Gjögur and Akurvík; as
well as all known sites in the district of
Bolungarvík: Bolungarvík, Skálavík,
Kálfadalur and Os. Other sites have also
been surveyed: Slétta in Jökulfírðir,
Fjallaskagi and Flraun in Dýrafjörður,
Kálfaeyri in Önundarfjörður, and various
other sites in the region. In total, 20 fish-
ing sites were surveyed in ísafjarðarsýsla
and 5 sites in Strandasýsla (Edvardsson
1996, 1997, 1999, 2000a, 2000b, 2002b).
From the above surveys carried
out as part of this project, selected sites
were singled out for excavation. Various
factors affected the choice of sites for
excavation. As previously stated, one
aspect of the research was to identify dif-
ferences, if any, between the eastem and
westem regions of Vestfirðir. Another sig-
nifícant factor was to excavate sites that
had been occupied prior to the 16th cen-
tury and that had functioned as offshore
fishing bases. The excavation focused on
understanding the layout of fishing sites,
the nature of settlement and occupation.
Furthermore, faunal remains were col-
lected where it was possible, for further
analysis. The findings of both survey and
archaeological excavation are as follows.
Survey Results
Most of the visible remains of fishing
sites are from the last phase of occupa-
tion, c.a. 1900-1940. In some places
older remains lie amidst younger ones
but only two of the surveyed stations are
older than the 19th century and were
probably abandoned around 1500. The
written sources only mention one outly-
ing station in the district of Kaldrananes
prior to the 15th century and that is the
fishing station at Sauratún (D.I.XV, 562).
The majority of fishing stations were
built above rocky shorelines and few
were by a sandy beach. This can be
explained by the fact that it is safer to
land on a rocky beach as the waves break
in a different way than on a sandy beach.
In a storm or a gale, sandy beaches
become extremely dangerous landing
places.
The general layout of a fishing
station consists of a cluster of small rec-
tangular buildings a few meters from the
shore. Each verbúð (fishing booth) is
approximately 5 x 5 m and only in a few
instances were larger booths recorded. It
was not possible to determine with cer-
tainty the building material of all the
booths, however, where it was possible,
stone seemed to be the main building
material. All booths recorded had an
entrance facing the sea. The booths were
also clustered close together with
approximately 2-5 m between them.
In many cases no landings were
visible but boat landings were often
made by hand with rocks from the beach.
At the beginning of every fishing season
these landings had to be repaired as the
sea had damaged them in the period
between the seasons. More than likely,
these landings have disappeared as the
stations have been abandoned for quite
some time. In some places, natural fea-
tures were used as landings, such as the
lee side of small peninsulas, which gave
shelter from the prevailing wind direc-
tion.
At some of the fishing stations,
circular platforms, made of stone, were
recorded. Two types of stone platforms
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