Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 35

THE LEIRVÍK “B0NHÚSTOFTIN” AND THE EARLY ChRISTIANITY OF THE FAROE ISLANDS, AND BEYOND
Figure 4. Aerial photograph of church site at Velbastaður on Streymoy. The diameter of the enclo-
sure is approximately 20 meters. Photo: Faroese Cadastral Office (Matrikulstóvan) 1994.
Mykines7. The site, to which the place-
name Bonhúsberg (English: the rock wall
of the prayer house) is attached, is located
on a promontory that rises about 20 m
above sea-level. It consists of the remains
of a sub-circular enclosure, almost 30 m in
diameter, the enclosing bank of which is
visible to the south, east and north; at the
west, which is now formed by a vertical
cliíf, it has been eroded away, while to the
east it borders a stream (Fig. 5). Excava-
tions were conducted here in 1960, but
unfortunately were not completed. How-
ever, the foundations of a small church
were uncovered and, according to the exca-
vator, this superimposed an earlier and
somewhat smaller church. Interestingly,
sherds of bowl-shaped pottery of ‘Viking-
character’ were found in the context of this
earlier church (Dahl 1976, 103). Some
thirty-five years ago an oil pipeline was
dug through the enclosure. On this occa-
sion human remains were discovered, and
these were subsequently reburied8.
7 This site was preliminary surveyed and recorded by one of the authors (SSH), together with Karin Roug of the University
of Copenhagen, during a visit to the island on September lst 2004. In 1962 a very small excavation was conducted here by
Sverri Dahl and the Danish archaeologist, R V Glob (Dahl 1968,207). The extent of the excavation is now difficult to assess
as the excavators are not known to have produced a plan. All that is stored in the archives of Foroya Fornminnissavn are
two simple drawings of sections on the site. Neither of these is accompanied by any description. This material, and a small
number of objects allegedly deriving from this excavation, were stored in Dahl’s private home and only found its way to the
museum after his death in 1987 (Foroya Fornminnissavn: Sverri Dahl Archive 49).
8 Pers. com., Jákup Pauli á Eyðansstova, Sandavágur. Around the same time, approximately 50m north of the church site,
the remains of a settlement were discovered during construction work. Further work at this location in 2002 resulted in the
discovery of a large rim sherd of a circular soapstone vessel, and a number of sherds of locally produced pottery of medieval
date (Pers. comm., Esbern á Eyðansstovu, Mykines, and Jákup Pauli á Eyðunstova, Sandavágur). This may indicate that this
area was the location of a Viking-age or medieval farmstead, and, if so, it seems very likely that this would have been associ-
ated with the adjacent bonhús.
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