Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 64

Ragnar Edvardsson
material excavated at Sauratún and
Skálavík can provide a clear picture as to
which species were targeted from these
stations and it has generally been
believed that they were not specialized in
any way. However, the archaeological
surveys and excavations have shown that
there are some regional differences, not
in the building of individual booths but in
the number and sizes of the físhing sta-
tions. The regional differences between
físhing stations may well reflect special-
izations of some sort. The físhing sites in
Strandasýsla are much smaller in size
with no more than 5 booths on each indi-
vidual site compared to the físhing sites
in N-ísafjaróarsýsla with 12 or more
booths on each site. The físhing stations
in Strandasýsla are also generally fewer
as the need for físhing stations of this
type was probably much less than else-
where. The offshore fishing grounds
could be accessed more easily from each
farm in this region, thus fishermen did
not have to go to special físhing stations
during the físhing season. The fishing
stations in Strandasýsla were therefore
primarily used by fishermen who came
from farms that had little access to the
sea or by fishermen who intended to tar-
get a certain marine species.
The fishing stations in N-ísa-
Ijarðasýsla are mostly located on the
westem side of the Vestfirðir peninsula,
facing the Greenland strait. They are also
situated, in most cases, as far west as
possible. An explanation for their loca-
tion is that they were intended as offshore
bases for the fishermen who targeted the
deep-sea físhing grounds. The archaeo-
logical data suggests that the offshore
bases were specialized for catching the
larger cod, that was ideal for export dur-
ing the period AD 1200-1500. This new
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