Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Side 89

Excavations at Hólskirkja, Bolungarvík
0.5m
Figure 6. Infant coffin from burial 7.7.
nine teeth were absent ante-mortem and
of those present two had slight calculus.
Burial 7.7
This was a small coffin, in fairly poor
condition but lifted whole (Fig.6). It was
hexagonal (but non-equilateral) in cross-
section and made from two end plates
and seven planks: two base planks (cut
diagonally), two side planks three top
planks. Most of the planking was poorly
preserved. The elements were joined
with wrought iron nails. In total it was 68
cm long and 22 cm wide. No skeletal
elements had survived, but based on the
size, it probably held an infant; there
were wood shavings and grass/hay stuff-
ing preserved however.
Unassociated Remains
Besides the coffín burials, two disarticu-
lated adult human bones were recovered
from test pit 7, the distal half of a right
femur, probably belonging to a female
based on measurements of the distal epi-
physis, and a near complete right tibia.
Measurements indicate that the stature of
this individual was 165 cm if it was
female, 169 cm if it was male. It is pos-
sible that these two bones belong to the
same individual.
Test Pit 8
In TP8, there were 5 graves, four in vari-
ously preserved coffins (Fig.3), but only
three of which were excavated.
Burial 8.2
This was not a single burial but rather a
discrete group of mixed skeletal elements
between coffins, which had clearly been
disturbed and pushed together by later
burials. In total, three individuals are
represented:
Skeleton 8.2a was a near com-
plete adult skeleton; most of the bones
apart from the axial skeleton were repre-
sented, although there was some flaking
of all the bones present. There was some
blue crystal formation on the facial
bones, probably vivianite formation.
Vivianite is a hydrated iron phosphate
which is known to form on bones in
moist, acidic soil conditions (Shackley,
1975). Sexually diagnostic characteris-
tics of the skull were preserved, and
measurements could be taken from sev-
87