Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 10

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 10
Gavin Lucas the material both confirmed Steffensen’s original diagnoses, but greatly extended it in detail and precision. An unusually high proportion of the population had osteoar- thritis compared to a cemetery of similar date in England, and the authors suggest this may have been a genetic trait, as a similar pattern exists among the present day Icelandic population. From human bones we move to animal bones and George Hambrecht’s study of the important faunal assemblage that has been recovered from the recent excavations at the Episcopal manor and school of Skálholt. Hambrecht’s paper - part of an ongoing analysis into the 17th—18th century material from this site, presents the exciting, preliminary results of his research, in particular the extraor- dinary high proportion of cattle, which are related to beef rather than dairy farm- ing. Given the high status of the site, high numbers of cattle might be expected but the ratios exceed any normal expectations. Hambrecht situates this in the context of possible agricultural experimentation through the fact that these cattle appear to be predominantly polled, either naturally (as imported breeds) or artificially (local cattle). Such experimentation is not out of place given the wider cultural changes in farming practice in northern Europe at this time, but it does suggest that farm- ing at Skalholt was taking a much more active role in this process, which can be critically seen as ideological as much as economic. The papers in this volume signi- fy yet again, an increasing maturity to the archaeological literature in Iceland, and in particular it is re-assuring to see many of them engaging with wider theoreti- cal issues, while still being grounded in empirical work. I think it not too prema- ture to claim that Icelandic archaeology is moving up a new level of sophistication, fostered in large part by the inter-discipli- nary and international nature of its work.

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Archaeologia Islandica

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