Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2005, Qupperneq 115

Kúvíkur. An abandoned trading site
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Total
Ceramics Pottery 12 176 440 33 661
Brick 4 8 12 5 29
Claypipe 6 - 3 - 9
Coal - 3 8 2 13
Rooftile 25 - - - 25
Slag - 1 55 32 88
Stone 1 1 2 - 4
Whetstone - - 2 1 3
Glass Bottle 1 13 22 6 42
Button - - 2 - 2
Lamp - 53 96 37 186
Mirror - - 3 1 4
Other - 2 5 - 7
Phial - 5 1 2 8
Vessel 17 7 23 7 54
Window 5 25 60 24 114
Metal Nail - 38 130 386 554
Other - 47 102 112 261
Organics Leather - 5 - - 5
Plastic - 4 - 4 8
Textile - 3 2 - 5
Total 71 215 528 619 2082
Table 1. Summary of fínds according to phases.
finds from phase 1 to phase 2 of the mid-
den. Phase 2 shows much more signs of
activity, since there was more variety and
higher quantities in the assemblage. This
applies to building material such as win-
dow fragments, nails and other metal
objects as well as objects that can be cat-
egorised as domestic. Nails and other
iron building material in a midden can
hardly be interpreted as anything other
than waste, something that was of no use.
Many of the straps were bent and have
previously either been fastened together
or to other objects. This can suggest
rebuilding, maintenance or the tearing
down of structures on site. Wood was
completely absent from this phase. This
could mean that it was being reused or
bumt, although little signs of woodash
were detected in the midden. Phase II
shows a defínite increase in domestic
material, mostly lamp chimneys and a
few kitchen related items such as a fork,
part of a tin can and bottles. Tin cans
were hardly common before the mid 19th
century. The number of lamp fragments
seems very high when compared to other
domestic material. Lamp glass is thin
and fragile and could be expected to be
handled with care. Even if they would
break from time to time, the count should
not be higher than kitchen related objects
such as bottles and tin cans, which obvi-
ously were present at that time in
Kúvíkur. Since there is no available
comparison data from the 19th century it
is not possible to tell whether this is
unusal or not.
The transition between phase II
and III does not show the same change in
artefact composition as the transition
from phase I. The number of objects
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