Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 59

SMALL HOLDER FARMING IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ICELAND: SKUGGI IN HÖRGÁRDALUR
Figure 4. Bead SKÖ2009-062 (photo:Hreiðarsdóttir 2010:46).
copper alloy piece, whetstones and
manuports, two bone pins, and a few
other items made from bone.
Leather and possible textile frag-
ments are likely from clothing items and
await analysis. As a whole, the Skuggi
finds assemblage resembles those from
other Viking Age/early medieval sites.
One possible crucible fragment found
in context [018], was made from ceram-
ics and may have been used for fine metal
working. This artifact is quite rare in
Iceland and from its finds context falls
into Phase III and can be roughly dated to
ca. mid 1 lth c. (Gísladóttir et al. 2010:50-
54). Such an object could possibly func-
tion as a status indicator, although one
find may be not reliable enough to argue
for a potential change in on-site status.
Also, this particular mold fragment does
not clearly indicate style and function
(for a detailed discussion on Viking Age
metalworking and the use of a ceramics
mold see Hall 1994:108-112).
The potential crucible together with a
large amount of charcoal found in the
lower midden layers could be indicators
for at least a partial usage of Skuggi as
metal working place (i.e. Church 2006).
Four ceramics crucibles were recovered
from the Hofstaðir long hall where they
were in use for non-ferrous on-site metal
working (Batey 2009:315).
All three whetstones recovered from
TRl are of Eidsborg schist type from the
Telemark region in Norway and are quite
well preserved (Gísladóttir et al. appen-
dix by C.J. Hansen, 2010:56-57). These
pieces were found in contexts dated to the
late 10th - mid 1 lth century.
The Skuggi archaeofauna
The midden soil pH level was measured
at a consistent very slightly acid value of
6.5 and higher, as reflected in a generally
well preserved faunal collection with
some bone erosion resulting from repeat-
ed freeze and thawing events in the upper
midden levels. The Skuggi faunal collec-
tion analyzed to date has resulted in a
Total Number of Fragments (TNF) count
of 8189, with a Number of Identified
Specimens (NISP) of 2187.
Since the various midden deposits
57