Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2009, Page 66

Heather B. Trigg, Douglas J. Bolender,
Katharine M. Johnson, Marisa D. Patalano, and
John M. Steinberg
NOTE ON BARLEY FOUND IN DUNG IN
THE LOWEST LEVELS OF THE FARM
MOUND MIDDEN AT REYNISTAÐUR,
SKAGAFJÖRÐUR ICELAND
As part of the work of the Skagafjörður Archaeological Settlement Survey
(SASS), the authors identified bumt barley in a dung matrix at the lowest levels
of the Reynistaður farm mound midden (between ca. 870 and 1000 AD). Barley
in dung, with other wetland seeds, suggests to us that a traditional agro-pastoral
Scandinavian package may have been used at Reynistaður from its settlement.
Heather B. Trigg, (Heather.Trigg@umb.edu) Katharine M. Johnson, Marisa
Patalano, andJohn M. Steinberg, Fiske Centerfor Archaeological Research,
UMass Boston 100 Morrissey Blvd. Boston MA 02125
Douglas J. Bolender, lnstitute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology,
University at Buffalo, 380 MFAC - Ellicott Complex, Buffalo, NY14261-0005
Keywords: paleoethnobotany, archaeobotany, Viking Age, cultivation, fodder,
manure
Introduction
While the consumption of barley in
Viking Age Iceland has never been
doubted, questions remain regarding the
extent to which barley was imported or
grown locally. Sagas document cultiva-
tion of barley in Viking Age Iceland in
various locations (e.g., Þórarinsson 1956)
and there is circumstantial evidence for
barley cultivation in the archaeological
record (e.g., Nordahl 1988:101), and the
potential for barley production in the
environmental record (Simpson et al
2002). However, there is also evidence of
Viking Age grain importation (Buckland
et al 1990). Thus the scope and nature of
grain agriculture and place of traditional
Scandinavian infield-outfield farming
practices in Viking Age Iceland is unclear
(Ross and Zutter 2007; Zutter 1999).
Here we report on a find of burnt barley
in a dung matrix at the lowest levels of
the Reynistaður farm mound midden
(after ca. 870 AD and well before 1000
AD). This find suggests that a traditional
agro-pastoral Scandinavian package may
have been used at Reynistaður from its
earliest occupation.
Since 2001, the Skagafjörður
Archaeological Settlement Survey
(SASS) has been developing subsurface
archaeological methods as a part of col-
Archaeologia Islandica 7 (2009) 64-72