Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 13

ARCHAEOLOGISTS STEAL TIME! AN INTERVIEW WITH MJÖLL SNÆSDÓTTIR
that Stóraborg was a breeding ground for
future archaeologists?
MS: Yes you could perhaps say that. I
was lucky with my staff. The farm mound
was being eroded by the sea and
therefore we were racing against time.
Endangered areas were always the first
to be excavated each season. A lot of
finds were retrieved and organic
materials were extremely well preserved,
that is textile and timber. For example, a
lot of woodfrom vessels was found as well
as an unusual object which has been
interpreted as a mask. Bones on the other
hand were unfortunately badly preserved,
which was a shame as we excavated the
remains of a graveyard. Bones had
largely disappeared but left marks in the
soil. The only solution was just to draw
the outlines. Bones in this condition can
onbviously not be preserved and used in
research, although that could have added
a lot of information about daily life and
the people of Stóraborg. But that is the
nature of archaeology.
BL: Is there anything especially
memorable from Stóraborg?
MS: Yes. It was such an incredibly
beautifulplace. I never got used to it. The
view over the sea in the south with
Vestmannaeyjar on one hand and
Dyrhólaey on the other, the
Eyjafjallajökull glacier to the north. It
astonished me every day. It can certainly
not have been a dull place to live, being
able to perceive such beauty firom one ’s
doorstep.
BL: Did your team have a lot of fun?
MS: Yes. We went to Reykjavík on
weekends because I had to allow the
people to party. We never had drinks or
anything on weekdays but in the autumn I
had a party at my house. It isn 't very
spacious but with good will I can squeeze
11 people at the table. Two couples have
danced in the kitchen which is six square
meters. During the week we often packed
finds in the evenings, sometimes using
old tomato- and cucumber boxes from the
local hotel. Then we had good cooks.
That is important on excavations, feeding
your crew properly!!
For a while there was this Swede
working with us who was vegetarian. It
was not a big deal - we just went to a
health food shop and bought beans and
stuff like that. We then stored it in a box
which was labelled “Svíafóður” (Food
for the Swede). Some people think it said
‘ ‘Svínafóður ’ ’ (pig food) but that 's just
rubbish.
BL: How do you view the saga tradition
in Iceland and the deep need that people
seem to have to connect archaeological
sites to peple mentioned in old written
sources?
MS: I have always found this odd. When
we were digging here in Reykjavík it was
common for reporters to ask whether we
had found Ingólfur [Arnarson, the first
recorded settler of lcelandj. It just isn 't
that way in archaeology, that you can
connect what you find to certain people -
it's rare that finds are actually labelled to
certain people. Doubtless it would be fun
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