Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 80

Hildur Gestsdóttir, Helgi Jónsson, Juliet Rogers and Jón Thorsteinsson
Sex Number Age Number
Male 27 18-25 4
Female 24 25-35 8
Unknown 3 35-45 29
45+ 12
Unknown 1
Table 1. Age & sex of the Skeljastaðir skeletons
landic geologist who took part in the 1939
investigations in Þjórsárdalur, attempted to
identify the diíferent tephra layers in and
around the valley, and his studies suggest
that the site was abandoned as a result of
a volcanic eruption in mount Hekla dated
by documentary sources to AD 1104 (Sig-
urður Þórarinsson, 1943 & 1968). How-
ever, more recent work in Þjórsárdalur,
at the farm site of Stöng, has suggested
that at least some farms in the valley
were occupied into the 13* century (Vil-
hjálmur Ö Vilhjálmsson, 1988). Three of
the skeletons from Skeljastaðir have been
radiocarbon dated, and they all fall in the
period AD 1000-1220 (SCD), supporting
the tephrachronological date for the site.
Whether the graveyard at Skeljastaðir was
abandoned due to the AD 1104 eruption
ofHekla, or if it continued to be used into
the 13* century is not certain. However
the excavators estimated, based on the fact
that there was no intercutting of graves,
indicating that the locations of all older
graves were known when new graves were
cut, that it was not in use for more than
a hundred years, placing it in the early
medieval period of Iceland (Matthías
Þórðarson, 1943).
The material
Of the sixty-three skeletons excavated
in 1939, fifty-four adult skeletons were
available for this study. The preservation
of the skeletons was in most cases excel-
lent with most of the bones being repre-
sented. In a majority of cases the bones
were complete, although in some cases
the cortical bone was damaged. As the
cemetery had been affected by erosion,
some of the bones had been whitened due
to exposure.
The age and sex determination
of the skeletons had previously been car-
ried out by one of the authors (Hildur
Gestsdóttir, 1998). The results are pre-
sented in Table 1. Sexing was carried out
using morphological characteristics of the
pelvis and skull (Schwartz, 1995; Buik-
stra & Ubelaker, 1994) and by compar-
ing measurements to standards presented
by Bass (1995) and Brothwell (1981).
The skeletons were aged using as many
of the following methods as possible; the
Suchey-Brooks (Brooks & Suchey, 1990)
method of pubic symphyseal ageing; the
Lovejoy et al. (1985) method of ageing
the auricular surface and suture closure
age estimation (Meindl & Lovejoy, 1985;
Buikstra & Ubelaker, 1994).
Methods
Two of the authors examined all the skele-
tons. All pathological changes were noted,
discussed and recorded with particular
attention paid to the changes in the joints
of the post-cranial skeleton. Any areas of
eburnation, which manifests itself in dry
bone as polished areas on the joint surface
caused by bare bone moving over other
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