Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 95

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Page 95
Excavations at Hólskirkja, Bolungarvík. were quite gracile, but are probably from an adult individual. Test Pits 12 & 13 Five burials were recorded, but only two excavated in these connecting test pits (Fig. 8): FSurial 12.1 The coffin was too poorly preserved to retrieve but was of plank construction with wrought iron nails, and had been damaged by large stones at the eastem end. Skeleton 12.1 was a partial adult skeleton. Both femora and tibiae were present, all flaked and missing epiphyses post-mortem. No features which could be used to determine sex or age at death were preserved, although the bones clear- ly belong to an adult. Measurements could be taken of the left femur to esti- mate stature. Results indicate that this individual was 157±4 cm if male, or 150±5 cm if female. Burial 13.4 The coffin was largely defined by traces of wood in a rectangular form and had almost completely decayed. It was asso- ciated with two partial skeletons, record- ed as having been "inside coffin" (skele- ton 13.4a) and "outside coffin" (skeleton 13.4b). Skeleton 13.4a was apartial adult skeleton, with cranial fragments, two unsided ribs and a fragment of humerus present. No sexually diagnostic charac- teristics were preserved. Suture closure indicates that age at the time of death was 31±9 years. No measurements could be taken to estimate stature and no patho- logical changes were recorded. Skeleton 13.4b consists of four unidentifíed long bone fragments. No age or sexually diag- nostic characteristics were preserved, but the bones are probably adult. Associated with these bones was also some pre- served hair. Unassociated Remains Two disturbed bones were recovered from TP13, a small fragment of an unsided ilium and the (possibly) distal of a very gracile left femur. Both these bones belong to adults, but no further analysis could be made. The MNI repre- sented by the sample is one. Discussion The Skeletons The skeletal remains collection from Hólskirkja comprised a minimum num- ber of twenty-two individuals from seven test pits. This includes seventeen partial or complete articulated inhumations from six test pits and a MNI of five individuals represented by sixty-four bones or bone fragments from four test pits. The preser- vation of the material, although some- what varied, was in general quite poor. Much of the bone was very soft prior to cleaning and therefore warped as it dried. Similarly there is quite a bit of flaking and fragmentation of the bone present. There were some instances of vivanite formation due to the moist acidic soil conditions. Of the seventeen adult skeletons in the collection, eight had sexually diag- nostic characteristics preserved. Of these, three were males or probable males and fíve were females or probable females. Of the twenty-two individuals in the collection, all five juveniles (oste- ologically classed as anyone under the age of 18 years) and seven of the seven- teen adults could be aged. There are an 93
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Archaeologia Islandica

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