Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 49

THREE DECADES IN THE COLD AND WET: A CAREER IN NORTHERN ARCHAEOLOGY
ucts in Anglo Saxon England or Frankia
are exceedingly rare more than a few
kilometers from the coast (Barrett 2004).
The clear and well dated evidence for this
well organized system in Iceland well
prior to what has been called the “Fish
Event Horizon” of ca 950-1050 in Europe
has made clear the ultimate Nordic ori-
gins of the stockfish trade and one of the
commercial engines of the later North
Atlantic (Perdikaris & McGovem 2008).
While we do not know exactly how these
early trade networks functioned they do
suggest that from Iceland’s earliest histo-
ry neither the single farm nor even the
local district (hreppur) were the basic
unit of economic survival. The possibili-
ty of large trade networks connecting
wide areas of Iceland run by entrepre-
neurially minded farmers or chiefs is just
one result of this zooarchaeological
record that requires further collaborative
investigation.
Zooarchaeology and pre-
Christian ritual activity in
Mývatnsveit
Zooarchaeology has also helped reveal
some unexpected aspects of pagan ritual
activity as well as wider Viking Age
economy in North Iceland. The archaeo-
fauna from the large hall of Hofstaðir in
Mývatn largely represents economic
activities as we now know them at a nor-
mal farm from the Viking Age in north-
ern Iceland (McGovern et al. in Lucas
2009). Yet a number of finds found
around and within the hall are very differ-
ent from other Icelandic archaeofauna. At
least 23 cattle skulls show evidence of
having been hung up and displayed on
the outside walls. There is distinct weath-
ering on the frontal side of the skulls, but
not the back. The weathering also indi-
cates that these skulls were displayed on
the outer walls for years after any soft tis-
sue had disappeared. Depressed fractures
caused by a powerful and fatal blow
between the eyes appear on these skulls.
Where the base of the skull is preserved
evidence of equally forceful decapitating
blows appears as well, suggesting a ritu-
alistic killing intended to produce a spec-
tacularly theatrical spray of blood as well
as a demonstration of weapons skills. The
horn cores of these animals were not
removed for craft working, which was
the opposite of the norm. The size pro-
files of these animals also suggest that
they were mostly bulls, young adults in
the “prime beef’ stage of development
which would be exceedingly rare in the
dairying economy of the region and a
strong contrast to the normal consump-
tion of either surplus calves or wom out
milking cows. The seasonal indicators
suggest that the animals were slaughtered
in the spring, around the time of the equi-
nox in late June. All these peculiar attrib-
utes together suggest a pattem of ritual
feasting and sacrificial activity (Lucas
and McGovem 2008).
Beyond NABO and the North
Atlantic
Together, North Atlantic scholars have
come very far from the days of the early
1970’s, when intemational or cross disci-
plinary collaboration was an exception,
single sites were the limit of most investi-
gations, and the region as a whole was
regarded as an “unproductive backwater”
47