Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 73

SMALL HOLDER FARMING IN EARLY MEDIEVAL ICELAND: SKUGGI IN HÖRGÁRDALUR
consists of marine species. Even though
the Hörgá is known as Char and Trout
fishing river, no fresh water fish were
found at Skuggi so far (http://www.nat.
is/nateng/angling_in_north_iceland.htm).
Even if a relatively dense forest covered
the land between the Skuggi farm and the
river Hörgá, the complete lack in fresh
fish bones is unexpected. If there was no
physical access issue, did the landowners
reserve the right to the fish in the river? Or
was this part of another farm’s land and
off limits to either Skuggi or Staðartunga
(in the assumption that Staðartunga
owned Skuggi)?
Birds
At Skuggi, only Common raven (Corvus
corax (L.)) elements could be analyzed to
species level. Two very small ulnas
belong to the very large group of
Passerines found in Iceland, either pres-
ent year round or as seasonal guests (i.e.
Hilmarsson 2000). The 365 bird elements
that could not be assigned to a species or
family were mainly long bone fragment
shafts, but also phalanges and badly pre-
served ends of bird long bones. They fit
into a general size group representative of
either ducks or small geese. Only two
bird elements were recovered from the
Later Viking Age phase, the great major-
ity was found in the medieval layers.
The 44 raven elements from the
medieval phase, retrieved from contexts
[003, 010, and 011], were a surprise as
surely ptarmigan (Lagopus muta (L.))
would have been the terrestrial Icelandic
grouse expected among discarded food
remains. Common ravens are home to
this area of Iceland and live there year
round (Petersen 1998). Bones of this
species have been found in other Viking
Age and medieval assemblages and while
they were more frequently found in
graves they seem to have been occasion-
ally consumed (Maltby 1979:73;
Reichstein and Tiessen 1974:123, 144;
Bond and O’Connor 1999:398, 392-93;
Wigh 2001:29), killed for use of their
feathers in omaments or tools (Enghoff
2003:33, Serjeantson 2009), and at times
also raised as pets, killed as pests, valued
for their intelligence, but also well-
known for their scavenging habits
(Serjeantson 2009).
It seems possible that ravens were
consumed at Skuggi, because some of the
long bones are broken/chopped in a way
that could indicate disarticulation of
these elements for consumption purpos-
es. As ravens can pose a threat to lambs,
the Skuggi farmers may have killed these
scavengers to protect their livestock.
Ptarmigan, on the other hand, also live
and nest in this part of Iceland and surely a
forested area would have presented prime
nesting grounds (Hilmarsson 2000:110,
Petersen 1998:130).
The complete absence of fresh water
fish and ptarmigan in the Skuggi archae-
ofauna may hint to the rank these farmers
held within the local society. Likely, they
were not the only potential tenant farmers
controlled by a larger institution func-
tioning as immediate holder such as
either Staðartunga or another larger farm
close-by, and Möðruvellir the potential
manorial farm site controlling even those
holder farms through taxes in form of
goods. The landowners may have
reserved access to Ptarmigan and fresh
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