Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2009, Page 72

Heather B. Trigg et al.
ple of Reynistaður may have grazed their
livestock on sedges and perhaps allowed
them to forage on harvested fields.
Conclusion
We believe that level 11 at the Reynistaður
farm mound midden is very early in the
settlement sequence, soon after 871 AD
and well before 1000 AD. Barley in
charred animal dung at such a time sug-
gests that the inhabitants were growing
barley and, after it was harvested, letting
the animals graze on the fíeld. It is likely,
based on the total seed assemblage that
the animals were also grazing on wet-
lands at the same time, not surprising
given Reynistaður’s location at the ijord
bottom. If this is the correct interpreta-
tion, it implies that the complete
Scandinavian agro-pastoral package was
put into practice at Reynistaður soon
after it was settled.
Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work sup-
ported by the US National Science
Foundation under BCS grants 0107413,
0453892, and 0731371. Additional fund-
ing was provided by the Wenner-Gren
Fund for Anthropological Research.
Additional support came from the
Commune ofSkagaljörðurandlcelandair.
The work was done in conjunction with
Byggðasafn Skagfírðinga, the Hólaskóli,
and the Hólar Research Project. The
SASS project operated under permits
granted by Þjóðminjasafn Islands &
Fornleifavemd ríkisins. Tephrachrono-
logy was conducted by Magnús A.
Sigurgeirsson. We wish to thank the gen-
erous owners of Reynistaður: Sigurlaug
Guðmundsdóttir and Helgi Jóhann
Sigurðsson Any opinions, fíndings, and
conclusions or recommendations
0.5 cm
Figure 6. Photo of dung recoveredfrom flota-
tion sample of Layer 11.
expressed in this material are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the any of the sponsors or sup-
porters of this work. Reports and the raw
data for this study can be obtained from
http://www.fiskecenter.umb.edu/SASS.
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