Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Síða 106

Birna Lárusdóttir, Gavin Lucas, Lilia Biörk Pálsdóttir and Stefán Ólafsson
Figure 1. Aerial view of Kúvikur from Loftmyndir ehf.
archaeological survey in the area have
shown that nearly all such strips of low-
land have been used or cultivated in one
way or another and almost, without
exception have some structures associat-
ed with them, sometimes remains of
farms or shielings (Lárusdóttir et al.
2005). Therefore, it is unlikely that
structures belonging to the trading center
were the first to be built on the site
although today no obvious older struc-
turés are visible on the surface. It has
been proposed that some trading took
place there before the monopoly, when
English, Dutch and German sailors sailed
to Icelandic fishing grounds (Líndal
1982, 378).
During the Danish monopoly it
was a custom that merchants sailed to
trading centers each year and stayed
there for only a few days each time. It is
therefore unlikely that Kúvíkur had per-
manent buildings during this era. The
river that runs just west of the site is
called Búðará (Booth River), an indica-
tion of possible booths or tents. After the
monopoly was lifted in 1787 a merchant
settled permanently on site and took care
of the trading as well as running a farm.
Kúvíkur was inhabited throughout the
19th century and still growing in the
beginning of the 20th century. A board-
ing school was run there one winter and a
slaughterhouse for a while but these
developments toward the formation of a
little village started to decline, especially
after a herring factory was built in
Djúpavík, some 3-4 km west of Kúvíkur
in 1917. The settlement in Kúvíkur came
to an end in 1949.
Shark liver oil was the main
merchandise Kúvíkur had to offer. The
ports that were established in 1602 were
classified into two main types, depending
on the main goods in each place: Fish
ports and meat ports. Kúvíkur was the
only one classifíed as a liver oil port in
the whole of Iceland. Liver oil was a
sought-after product in Europe, mainly
used for lighting in the ever expanding
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