Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Side 51

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Side 51
THE LEIRVÍK “B0NHÚSTOFTIN” AND THE EARLY CHRISTIANITY OF THE FaROE ISLANDS, AND BEYOND land and the entire North Atlantic region, from the Faroe Islands as far west as New- foundland (Fanning 1994, 30-36, fig. 12; Larsen and Stummann Hansen 2001, 121-124). In addition, there is linguis- tic evidence for connections that existed between the Hiberno-Scandinavians and the population of the Faroe Islands and Iceland (Matras 1957; Ó Cuiv 1988; Mat- ras et al. 2004). Given the archaeological and related evidence for connections between Ireland and the North Atlantic region during the Viking Age, it is clear that a context existed for the transmission of concepts relating to the form and mor- phology of ecclesiastical sites. The Heb- ridean churches noted above have paral- lels in Ireland, rather than elsewhere in Scotland, and are of crucial importance in this regard as they may demonstrate Irish or Hiberno-Scandinavian influence in a group of islands which formed part of the Scandinavian periphery of the North Atlantic cultural province. It is of interest to note in this context that there is historical evidence linking the Scan- dinavians in Ireland with the Hebridean Flatnose dynasty, as well as a literary tradition that links this dynasty with the early Viking-Age settlement of the Faroe Islands (Smyth 1984, 155-171). A number of very significant discoveries, relevant to this topic, have recently been made during the post-exca- vation work on the finds from Toftanes, a Viking-age farmstead at Leirvík which is situated a mere 500 m from the Bonhús- toftin. Among the many well-preserved wooden objects from this site an almost complete cross has been identified as well as a fragment of another cross; there are stylistic affinities between these crosses and the form of Irish Early Medieval crosses (Stummann Hansen forthcoming B) (Fig. 15). The mean date range for the C-14 dates from the site is 860-970 (Vick- ers et al. 2005, Table I), and as the two crosses derive from the earliest deposits at the site, they represent hard archaeo- logical evidence for the presence of a Christian community in the Faroe Islands well before the official conversion of around 1000 AD. The material finds from the site, ringed pins, etc., clearly suggests that the Toftanes settlers derived from a Hiberno-Scandinavian background. In this connection it is also worth noting that ‘classical’ pagan Viking-age graves have never been found in the Faroe Islands. The graves from Tjornuvík are devoid of grave goods, except for a ringed pin of Hiberno-Scandinavian type and a few other small personal items (Dahl and Rasmussen 1956). This was later interpreted by Dahl as an indicator that the earliest Viking-age settlers on the Faroe Islands may have derived from the Scandinavian settlements in Ireland rather than ífom Scandinavia itself (Dahl 1971 a, 65). Apart from Tjornuvík, the only other Viking-age graveyard so far recorded in the Faroe Islands is the site of Heima á Sandi, on the island of Sand- oy. Here, twelve graves were excavated. They were all orientated east-west and contained very sparse grave-goods of per- sonal character, including a small bronze item with an Irish design. These graves, in many respects, give the impression of being Christian, although the excavators, despite a number of arguments, prefer to remain completely open on this question (Arge and Hartmann 1992, 17-20). It may therefore be suggested that the Faroe Islands in the Viking Age were part of a Christian, or at least part- ly-Christianised, Hiberno-Scandinavian 49

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