Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2007, Side 9

GAVIN LUCAS
EDITORIAL
In this, the sixth volume of Archaeologia
Islandica, it is extremely heartening to
see studies of artefacts or materials dom-
inating the issue. Elín Hreiðarsdóttir's
magisterial survey of beads found in
Iceland from post-medieval times pro-
vides an extremely useful guide as well
as an informative background to current
research and knowledge outside Iceland.
Moreover, she highlights the significance
of such humble objects for an archaeol-
ogy which encroaches onto the histori-
an’s territory, proving once again, that the
remains in the ground tell a different story
to those recorded in documents. Although
equivocal, the continuity of prayer beads
in post-Reformation times seems to be
strongly indicated by the archaeologi-
cal evidence, in direct contrast to textual
sources, with consequent implications
for our understanding everyday religious
practices. A similarly humble, if not even
more mundane object is treated by Dav-
ide Zori in his appraisal of iron nails,
rivets and clench bolts from Iceland. If
Hreiðardóttir’s study introduces the reader
to an established classification of beads,
Zori’s paper raises the problems which
arise in the absence of any standard typol-
ogy. Highlighting the inconsistencies in
how objects have been categorized in
the National Museum, Zori argues that
such basic issues as this will only impede
comparative studies and subsequently
severely diminishes the value of such
archives. Iron nails, rivets and clench
bolts were typical of the objects made
by local blacksmiths, but iron smelting
itself was a much more specialized activ-
ity. Arne Espelund in his paper, examines
the evidence for iron production in Norse
Greenland, Iceland, and North America,
drawing heavily on compositional analy-
sis of ores, slags and iron objects. Syn-
thesizing previous research alongside his
own studies, he argues that only in Iceland
is there incontrovertible evidence for iron
smelting, but suggests that the traditions
of iron production and in some cases, the
iron itself, can be traced to Norway.
The fourth paper in this volume
stands alone in being not about materials
but a site, in this case the episcopal cathe-
dral of Garðar in Greenland. Mogens
I Ioegsberg re-analyzes the published site
report of the excavation from 1926 and
offers a more complex and nuanced phas-
ing, also raising questions about the dat-
ing of its development. There is no doubt
that a site dug 80 years ago would be done
differently today but what is interesting
is to be able to re-assess a site based on
its documentation rather than re-excava-
tion. Hoegsbcrg was moreover limited to
the publication since the primary archive
has been all but lost and thus his study
is doubly commendable. If Icelandic
archaeology needs more artefact studies
such as those in this volume, it would also
benefit from more re-appraisals such as
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