Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Síða 23

THE ÍDEA OF LANDSCAPE IN ICELANDIC ARCHAEOLOGY
ciative landscape based on memory and
tradition, towards a more objective study
on the science of space, particularly asso-
ciated with the geosciences. Throughout
this journey it has maintained close links
with history mainly demonstrated by
the preoccupation of visiting and giving
landscape context to sites mentioned in
the Sagas. The approach still fuels con-
temporary research agendas particularly
with the excavation of high status sites as
opposed to ordinary ones, and a preoccu-
pation with the Viking and Medieval peri-
ods. The issue is partially connected with
the ties of the Icelandic culture and society
and the recognition of the archaeological
discipline as implicitly connected to sites
mentioned and associated with historical
texts.
The earliest researchers, either
intentionally but mostly unintentionally,
studied the archaeological landscape,
and this is characterised by their regional
approaches and contexts that they used,
usually based on histories but also the
topography which were used to add com-
mentary on the archaeology. Brynjúlfur
Jónsson’s work characterises the con-
vergence between a sense of place and
archaeology. The foreigners who came
to Iceland in the latter part of the nine-
teenth century possibly already had fixed
notions about the landscape from their
discussions with Icelanders and from
their reading of texts. This would have
biased there approaches to landscape but
was nonetheless more objective as it is
argued that they were not so associated
to landscape at a local knowledge scale,
therefore being distanced from the ide-
ologies of the Icelanders themselves.
However, they were influenced heavily by
the Saga narratives and the consequential
literary analogies that were created from
them (Adolf Friðriksson 1994, 12-16;
Wyatt 2004, 274).
Modern practitioners have
focused on the strengths found in geo-
sciences, particularly tephrochronology
as well as other soil sciences, in recon-
structing the fragmented evidence for
environments and landscapes to contex-
tualise the detailed excavation work. This
has resulted in research agendas on the
broad issues of environmental change
and impact that this had on society and
the landscape. Others major themes have
been centred on settlement, particularly
ninth to fourteenth century, as well as the
abandonment of landscapes. But a cursory
glance suggests that many of the archaeo-
logical explanations about the dynamics
of change are usually based on external,
usually natural, factors rather than local
social ones, though there are exceptions
(e.g. Vésteinsson 1998).
Towards a modern practice
of landscape archaeology
It is clear nonetheless that settlement
and environment, the two exemplars in
archaeological research in Iceland, are
the most important themes in understand-
ing past landscapes, but there are many
other opportunities that lie beyond these.
Returning to the issue of defining a land-
scape study referred to at the beginning
of the paper, the range of research out-
lined here suggests that beyond the site
is most dominant and recurs through all
the examples used. What is perhaps less
clear and more interesting are the themes
explored (as above environmental change
and settlement) and their connection with
the environment and topography (or the
in the convergence between culture on the
one hand and nature and countryside on
the other). In many respects the antiquar-
21