Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2009, Page 29

ICELANDIC VlKING AgE GRAVES: LaCK IN MATERIAL - LACK OF INTERPRETATION?
1 m
Figure 1: The grave at Vað, S-Múlasýsla, containing a hnman and dog (Kristinsdóttir 1988, 93).
waistline and do sometimes indicate the
presence of small leather or textile pouch-
es. When undisturbed, jewellery and
clothing articles like pins are most often
found on the body indicating that it was
fully dressed.
Where animals, a horse or dog, are
buried with the dead they are generally
placed by or in the foot end of the grave.
In two instances a dog is even described
as lying between the deceased’s feet
(Eldjám 2000, 311-312). Horses are the
most common of grave goods in Icelandic
graves, and more common than in any
other part of the Viking world. Most
often one horse is deposited with the
deceased but there are also occasions
where an individual is buried with two
horses. How horses are deposited varies,
but can overall be divided in two catego-
ries; the horse is either buried with the
person or in a separate grave, the latter
being less common. Instances where a
horse and person are buried together also
vary as there is either one large grave
compartment containing both individuals
or there are two connected grave com-
partments, separated by a small barrier or
section, but covered with one heap of soil
and stones.
Where horse and human are buried
together the horse usually rests in the
foot end of the grave and most often with
its back against the interred. Generally
the horse lies on one side with its back
slightly curved and the feet either
clenched under the belly or straight. In
the burial grounds at Dalvík (Eldjám
2000, 162-163) and Brimnes (Bruun and
Jónsson 1910) as well as in a few single
graves the animals’ heads were cut of and
placed up against the belly or neck. In a
double horse grave at Gímsstaðir in
Mývatnssveit both animals had been
divided in two and then mixed so the
forepart of one horse lay with the hind
part of the other (Eldjám 2000,199-200).
However, the tradition seems to have
been to place whole animals in the graves
and not parts. There is only one clear
example, at Miklibær in Blönduhlíð,
where just parts of a horse were deposit-
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