Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 29

Steffen Stummann Hansen and John Sheehan
THE LEIRVÍK “B0NHÚSTOFTIN”
AND THE EARLY CHRISTIANITY OF
THE FAROE ISLANDS, AND BEYOND
The best-preserved early church site on the Faroe Islands, locally known as Bon-
hústoftin (English: prayer-house ruin), is located in the settlement of Leirvík on the
island of Eysturoy. Although the site is well known it has neither been the subject
of a proper archaeological survey nor has it ever been included in discussions of
the nature of early Christianity in the Faroe Islands. The site was recently surveyed
and described by the authors, and the results of this work are presented here. Other
sites of related type, both in the Faroe Islands and elsewhere, are identified and the
archaeological and historical contexts within which these sites should be consid-
ered, including the evidence from Toftanes and Skúvoy, are discussed.
Steffen Stumman Hansen, National Museum of the Faroe Islands
(Foroya Fornminnissavn), Hoyvík, P.O.Box 1155, FO-110 Tórshavn. E-mail:
Stummann@natmus.fo
John Sheehan, Department of Archaeology (Roinn na Seandálaíochta),
University College Cork, Ireland. E-mail: jsheehan@archaeology.ucc.ie
Keywords: Christianity, Faroe Islands, Chapel
Introduction
Archaeology in the Faroe Islands was vir-
tually non-existant until 1940 when Sverri
Dahl (1910-1987) was hired as an assist-
ant for Tórshavn-based local antiquar-
ians. Before this time very few excava-
tions had taken place, and those that had
were mainly undertaken because of the
efforts or support of Danish antiquarians
and archaeologists (Stummann Hansen
2003). Dahl adopted a broad approach
to the archaeology of the islands, and
although his name is primarily inextrica-
bly linked to a number of settlement sites
of the Viking Age (Dahl 1951; 1958;
1971a; 197lb), he demonstrated interest
in all types of monuments. For instance,
one of his earliest initiatives, in 1940,
was to excavate the few remaining burials
associated with the medieval church site
of á Luti in the settlement of Syðrugotu
on Eysturoy (Dahl 1952).
The church site at Gotu, lying
on an exposed coastal location, was badly
eroded, and as only a few graves were
still preserved there, it proved difficult
for Dahl to establish any firm idea of the
site’s morphology. This possibility, how-
ever, was afforded him by a number of,
hitherto unregistered, church sites scat-
tered around the islands. These sites gen-
erally had place-names attached to them
containing the Faroese term “Bonhús”,
which may be translated into English as
Archaeologia Islandica 5 (2006) 27-54