Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 66

Christopher Callow
Keldudalur - númer grafa

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Figure 1. Plan of the early Christian cemetery at Keldudalur, Skagafjörður, northern Iceland
showing the location of children ’s graves in clusters close to the north and south of the church
(nos. 1, 15, 17-18, 23-27, 30-33, 37-40, 44, 46, 48-49, 52). Image courtesy and copyright Guðný
Zoéga.
Iceland two graves were excavated in the
1930s of which one was aged thirteen to
seventeen, of indeterminate sex, but bur-
ied with a grave good set that makes it
look like a male burial according to the
‘usual gender rule’ (Halsall 1995: 14):
a spear, an axe, shield boss, large knife,
whetstone, lead weight, single bead, comb,
some fragments of jasper, a buckle and a
horse’s bit and some other iron fragments.
A horse burial just one metre north of the
interred teenager was very likely buried
with that person and remains of a second
horse a few metres south may also have
been associated with it (Eldjárn 2000:
49-50). This grave was probably much
more impressive than the other one found
in the same hillock. While the latter was
poorly preserved and could not be aged
or sexed, it had probably never had any
grave goods associated with it.
At Vatnsdalur in Patreksfjörður
in the Westljords, a region otherwise with
few viking age graves, a boat burial was
discovered on the shoreline which includ-
ed the disturbed remains of seven indi-
viduals of whom two were aged thirteen
to seventeen. The grave goods associated
with the grave were relatively numerous
and included a dog, a silver ‘Thor’s ham-
mer’ amulet, a copper alloy bell, a Kufic
coin, two arm rings and fourteen lead
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