Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2009, Page 17

SOCIAL AND SYMBOLIC LANDSCAPES IN LaTE IRON AGE ICELAND
ence. It could be explained by inferring
that most of these graves had originally
been covered by small mounds, which
later have eroded away - the distance
thus representing the minimum possible
space between the mounds. But it is
equally possible that distance within a
grave fíeld was a common and basic
means to symbolise grouping or social
distance or differences between the
deceased. Perhaps, those single graves
which are more isolated than others may
have other characteristics in common.
Again, the quality of the data does not
offer lucid examples for such compari-
son. Also, it is possible that the sites are
the remains of burial fields in different
stages of development. At the current
state of knowledge, the process of expan-
sion of these fíelds remains unknown.
However, in addition to looking at the
number of graves and the spacing between
them, the basic form of the burial fíelds
themselves might help to gain a better
picture of the whole.
Lines and Clusters
The next question is how graves are
arranged within the same grave field.
Despite the varying degree of preserva-
tion of the sites and recording of finds,
the answer in this case is simple: all the
graves within each cemetery tend to fol-
low more or less the same orientation.
They are arranged end-to-end, side-by-
side, or staggered to some degree, but
diagonal or non-symmetrical layout
between graves is extremely rare. In such
cases, there is only one of the graves
which does not follow the overall pattem
of the grave fíeld. A fme example is
grave nr. 5 at Ytra-Garðshorn, N-Iceland
(Fig. 4).This grave, which is in the centre
of the cemetery, lies N-S, whilst all the
Figure 4. The burial site at Ytra-Garðshorn,
N-Iceland (from Eldjárn 1965).
Figure 5. Recently excavated graves at
Kálfskinn, N-lceland. Two human burials with
horse graves, all arranged in a row, from NW
to SE (Drawing: Howell M. Roberts).
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