Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Síða 61

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Síða 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 59
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Archaeologia Islandica

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