Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 72

James Taylor, Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir, Andrea Harðardóttir and Gavin Lucas
1984:31). In the 17th century Eyri
becomes famous as being the residence
of the priest Jón Magnússon who accused
two men from a nearby farm for witch-
craft and had them bumed. Those dra-
matic events are described by Jón him-
self in his biography (Magnússon 2001).
In the 18th century a trading sta-
tion was established in Skutulsfjörður and
the importance of the area increased even
though the trading houses were not con-
nected to the farm itself. The land was
bought from the farm shortly after the
trading center received its license in 1786
(Ólafsson 1965:30). In 1782 the church
in Eyri was destroyed in a storm but
shortly afterwards a new one was built.
That church was not big enough for the
growing congregation and in 1858 a new
church was constmcted (Þór 1984:236-
7). The current church in ísafjörður is a
large concrete building dating to 1995
and lies over the foundations of the older
church (BB 1995:8).
The town of Isafjörður was for-
mally establised in 1866 and though the
farm and the church were situated within
the town, they were not part of its prop-
erty (Þór 1984:252). In 1872 the town
formally bought the fann and soon after
that, probably in 1874 (Ólafsson
1966:211-12), the farm was finally aban-
doned and tom down. The timber from
the old farmhouse was reused in other
houses in the town (Ólafsson 1965:47)
but these houses have recently been tom
down too. The mins were left untouched
until 1925 when building of a hospital,
located in the old homefield, com-
menced. Stones from the mins were used
for all kinds of purposes but after con-
struction work fínished, the mins were
flattened and grassed over (Magnússon
1965:42). In 1974 a memorial dedicated
to drowned fishermen was raised in the
old homefield of Eyri. When the trench
for the foundation was dug, a lot of ani-
mal bones, peat ash and glass was found.
It was thought to be the farm’s midden
(Pétursson 2003), which subsequent
investigation verifíed. It is remarkable
that the area has never been built over
during the growth of the town of
Isafjörður. Town people say that the rea-
son is probably how valuable grass land
is in the area and the old homefíeld was
used to make hay until late in the 20th
century.
The Site
The old fann site sits on a gentle slope
which is dropping from ca. 3 m above sea
level on the northeastem side to ca. 2.1 m
above sea level to the southwest. The
study area is primarily within the limits
of the landscaped grass gardens sur-
rounding the old hospital. Some foot-
paths cross the area and a playground is
situated at the northeastem limit. The vis-
ible remains include two adjacent sub-
rectangular mounds orientated northeast-
southwest. The largest mound, to the
northwest, has a visible extent of some
51 m long and 21 m wide. The highest
part of this mound is 4.1 m above sea
level, dropping to approximately 3.1 m at
its southwestem limit. The surface of the
mound has a number of clear depressions
and raised linear features, which subse-
quently corresponded to structural
remains below the surface. The south-
eastem mound has significantly smaller
visible extents, due partly to apparent
truncation at the east by both a public
footpath and a cemetery, and to the
southeast by a statue base. The surviving
limits measure some 25 m long by 11 m
wide. The highest point on this mound is
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