Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 81

Eyri in Skutulsfjörður
sively post-abandonment and destruction
layers, evidence for the underlying struc-
tural remains was clear from the outset.
In particular the tops of the turf and stone
walls could be seen to form a linear pat-
tem across the area, which almost cer-
tainly reflected the layout of the farm
buildings and their intemal partitions.
Up to nine potential rooms could be iden-
tified, laid out on a broadly northeast-
southwest alignment. However, it is un-
clear how many of these structural spaces
or rooms remain obscured by the overly-
ing post-abandonment debris.
The rooms were set on either
side of a distinct band of turf, c. 1.5 m
wide by at least 14 m long, which clearly
formed a large wall [1032]. Towards its
northern end, where excavation had
exposed part of the face of the wall, it
was obvious that some segments had a
stone face. The size of this wall suggests
that it is a significant part of the structure,
perhaps and extemal or supporting wall.
It is unclear whether all of the rooms seen
in plan were intemal divisions of space,
or whether some of them lay outside of
the main structure. Perhaps there are also
remains of adjoining stmctures or out-
houses.
The upper part of the strati-
graphic sequence was dominated by
post-abandonment deposits and destruc-
tion debris. This material was mostly set
within and, therefore, defined by the lay-
out of the underlying structural remains,
situated immediately undemeath the top-
soil. The types of deposits identified in
this sequence fell into two broad cate-
gories across the site. First, a turf col-
lapse, found both in thick bands and in
lenses across the whole area. Large areas
of the turf collapse were clearly heat
affected, either by direct buming of peat
ash or the dumping of hot ash in shallow
depressions, across the centre of the site.
It remains unclear whether this buming
was part of the destruction process, or
activity that took place when the site was
already in mins. At this stage the latter
seems more likely as the peat ash
deposits mostly seal the turf, which
appears to have been burnt in situ.
Second, extensive layers of grey brown
sandy silt and gravel silts, both deposits
that comprise the upper part of the
sequence. These almost certainly repre-
sent general weathering, bioturbation and
cryoturbation. This is clearly related to
the proximity of the uppermost part of
the site to the surface (being covered by
0.2-0.3 m of topsoil on average), where
the archaeological deposits were effec-
tively being absorbed into the subsoil.
Finally, it should be noted that most of
the finds could be firrnly dated to the late
19th century, consistent with the known
date of abandonment in 1874.
Both the nature and date of the
deposits found suggest excellent poten-
tial for preservation of earlier remains on
the site. Further substantial archaeologi-
cal excavations are therefore thought to
be both possible and desirable and would
certainly be necessary to fully document
and understand the origins and develop-
ment of this historically important settle-
ment. Continued large-scale excavation
is necessary to understand such a
sequence fully. Such work would be a
major contribution to the archaeology of
the Westfjords, a region that is currently
under-represented nationally, and would
greatly enhance our understanding of
farm development in Iceland. The site is
held to be of both regional and national
importance, and would make a contribu-
tion of international significance when
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