Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 15

The idea of landscape in Icelandic archaeolooy
Figure 2. A visual experimentation in a romantic and bucolic view of a contemporary landscape
at Hliöarend in Austur-Landeyjar (Haraldur Hannesson 1969, plate 25).
es of whole farm complexes (which have
since then disappeared) remain a valuable
sources of farm structures and organisa-
tion within the landscape. He worked at
scales associated with the individual sites,
though an exception to this is his meas-
ured plan at Hringnes and Þrælsgerði in
Vesturdalaur in Skagafjörður which shows
topogrpahic features with the two sites
(Brunn 1928, 154-156). Nonetheless, as
his visual archives indicate he was inter-
ested in the context of sites, particularly
illustrating the setting of sites through
sketches and photographs.
Other foreign archaeologists and
visitors who came to Iceland in the nine-
teenth century brought a different perspec-
tive on the archaeology and the landscape
than the Icelanders themselves. They
concerned themselves with documenting
and recording the archaeology, as well
as recognising the aesthetic beauty of the
Iceland’s landscape through illustrations.
Collingwood was very much interested
in the Saga sites but in visiting them he
incorporated perspectives on landscape
through his art and vivid descriptions,
which in many ways characterised the
antiquarians in Britain in the nineteenth
century (Collingwood and Jón Steffánsson
1899; Haraldur Hannesson 1969). In Brit-
ain archaeological practice was becoming
established but it still contained elements
of a gentlemanly pursuit rather than a sci-
ence or a study of humankind. Represen-
tation of the archaeology was often based
on sketches rather than detailed plans of
monuments, although there are notable
exceptions in the Victoria County Histo-
ries series and papers in the first archaeo-
logical joumals (Piggot 1976, 101-132).
The first wave of foreigners who
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