Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Qupperneq 98

Garðar Guðmundsson, Gavin Lucas, Hildur Gestsdóttir and Sigríður Þorgeirsdóttir
Figure 10. Photograph of a coffin of type 1, taken by Johannes Klein, 1898.
Jónas Jónasson, writing in the early 20th
century, mentions that older coffín types
were lantem-shaped (með ljósberalagi)
with a pitched roof - by which he is
probably referring to Type 3 (Jónasson
1961: 302-3; see also Hugason &
Aðalsteinsson 1988). According to
Jónasson, Type 1, which is the typical
coffin form of the 20th century, was a
foreign shape introduced after 1800 but
its common usage may only date from
the late 19th century. Most early 20th
century photographs of coffíns show a
Type 1, and an early photograph from
1898 by Johannes Klein also shows a
Type 1 coffín(Fig. 10). Otherwise, paint-
ings and sketches from the earlier 19th
century, all depict single box types. A
picture by Edward Dayes from 1836
shows a hexagonal coffín (Type 3, see
Fig. 11; Gaimard 1838-52), while one of
a funeral at Breiðabólsstaður in Fljótshlíð,
also from 1836, shows a pentagonal
coffin (although it may be Type 3,
viewed from the foot end). Both images
show a square white cross painted on the
end gable plate. Finally, there is a sketch
by V. Foulquiers from 1868, showing a
hexagonal coffin of Type 2 (Fig. 12;
Nougaret 1868: 118).
From these dated pictures and
photographs, one might infer that Type 3
is the oldest, dating from the early 19th
century, type 2 the second oldest, dating
to the later 19th century, and type 1 the
youngest, dating from the late 19th and
20th century. Based on such slim data,
this sequence is highly equivocal, yet the
stratigraphic sequence of coffins at
Hólskirkja seemingly bears this out. In
the one test pit which contained the most
variety and best sequence (TP 7), Types 1
and 2 were high up in the sequence,
while Type 3 was the lowest coffin exca-
vated. Type 4 has not been identified on
any images, but is probably 19th century
and most comparable to Type 2. Indeed,
perhaps the key chronological shift is a
development from an irregular polygon
(either pentagon or Type 3 hexagon) with
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