Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 16

OSCAR ALDRED
studiedthe archaeology of Icelandbrought
more scientific and critical methods into
the historical-topographic analysis of the
Sagas. Their contributions in looking at
the archaeology from a landscape per-
spective, whether through field survey
or artistic representation, are nonetheless
important in seeing landscape approaches
to the archaeology, particularly the spa-
tial relationships between individual ele-
ments within a site and the local areas
beyond. However, their connection to the
landscape was perhaps too remote, and
it was the first Icelandic archaeologists
Sigurður Vigfússon and Brynjúlfur Jóns-
son to connect a sense of place derived
from their memories and traditions to the
archaeological research agenda that was
being influenced by the foreigners, which
is explored in the next section.
The first archaeologists and the
archaeological society
The formation of the Icelandic archaeo-
logical society (hins íslenzka fornleifa
félags) in 1879 marked a distinctive turn
from a local archaeology to a more sys-
tematic one based on regional survey
practices with selected excavation. This is
shown in the first few annual volumes of
the society’s journal^VóóA. In 1880-1881
the individual site survey at Þingvellir
by Sigurður Vigfússon was combined
with an interest in the wider landscape
of Þingvallarsveit (Sigurður Vigfússon
1881, 31-52). Also in this volume is a
themed study of sacrifice sites and places
(blóthus) in Hvalfjörður and Kjalarnes
were reported (Sigurður Vigfússon 1881,
65-78). In the following years there were
regional studies in Breiðafjörður (1881)
and Vestfjörður (1882-1883) (Sigurður
Vigfusson 1882; 1884). These stud-
ies included visual descriptions through
measurements and sketches of the sites in
their landscape that were similar, but not
as good as Kalund’s rough measurements
and Brunn’s site plans.
The survey of Þjórsárdalur in
1884 indicates a new departure in the
study of the archaeology in Iceland.
Brynjúlfur Jónsson’s Um Þjórsárdalur is
a study of landscape (Brynjúlfur Jónsson
1885, 38-60). His is a systematic survey,
with well recorded information about
the archaeology at 24 sites, and in some
descriptions he assesses landscape chang-
es looking for abandoned sites. These were
contextualised within the natural environ-
ment, depicted on a sketch map and then
situated within its historical context. By
relating the natural environment with
the archaeological sites he described, he
produced a landscape perspective of the
region and its archaeology. He was also
the first to write in Iceland the term land-
scape (landslag) within the context of an
archaeological survey “Þannig er þá lýst
landslagi Þjórsárdals” (Brynjúlfur Jóns-
son 1885, 44).
The tradition of regional survey
continued throughout the early volumes
of the Society which are published in
Arbók, though there are no more regional
surveys like the Þjórsárdalur one until
Rannsókn í Rangárþingi sumarið 1901,
published in 1902, again by Brynjúlfur
Jónsson (Brynjúlfur Jónsson 1902,1-32).
The study includes a systematic descrip-
tion of the sites he surveyed with a sketch
map of the survey area with topographic
features marked, like Þjórsárdalur. Bryn-
júlfur Jónsson’s approach to archaeology
is more geographical and less depend-
ant on Saga texts compared to Sigurður
Vigfússon’s and concerned remains ffom
multiple periods. Brynjúlfur Jónsson
arranged the text by its geographic units
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