Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Qupperneq 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
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