Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 74

RAMONA HARRISON
water físh for their own household(s), or
even used these natural resources as part
of their tithe to the regional seat of power.
Seals are a further wild resource
home to Eyjafjörður although not the
Hörgárdalur mountains and they seem to
have been consumed in relative abun-
dance at Skuggi. The closest access to
seals could be found in the fjord and the
seal beaches were controlled for access to
these species. Some tithe claims by the
institutions controlling either Staðartunga
or Skuggi may have been exercised in an
obligatory contribution to a seasonal seal
hunt.
Seals
A total of 47 seal elements were collected
from TRl, and all except for three ele-
ments were in medieval layers. None of
the elements were distinct enough for a
species level assignment, but most of the
elements are of Harbour seal (Phoca vit-
ulina (L.)) size. Four larger phocid ele-
ments could be of grey seal (Halichoems
grypus (L.)). Both seal species give birth
to their young on Iceland’s sandy beach-
es along coastal strips, with harbor seals
predominantly netted in spring and grey
seals killed during the fall in the past
(Kristjánsson 1989:447). Many of
Iceland’s religious institutions had seal-
ing beaches, i.e. Múnkaþverá monastery
at the southem end of Eyjafjörður and there
used to be a series of known seal hunting
areas along Eyjafjörður (Kiistjánsson
1989:315).
Context [011] revealed three seal
bones suggestive of butchery/bone work-
ing: One proximal seal radius and one
carpal (trapezium) of a large sized seal
bore the butchery marks, and one skull
fragment was clearly the debris from
bone working. None of the other seal
bones bore any obvious knife, chop, or
impact marks.
The majority of seal skeletal elements
are represented in the Skuggi assemblage,
indicating the people ate seal meat from
the entire skeleton, and were not limited to
specific elements, as for example the flip-
pers. It would have been easier to keep an
animal of harbor seal size intact for trans-
portation and only butcher it on site, espe-
cially if seal oil was to be used at the site.
Seal oil was used for lamps, for making
paint, but also for consumption, i.e. as a
supplement or as a butter substitute, etc.
(Kristjánsson 1980:447). Seal skin was
often worked into shoes, rope, outer gar-
rnents and other items. From the Middle
Ages on, manuscripts were at times bound
in seal skin (Kristjánsson 1980:446-448).
Conclusion
By providing information on the late
10th, llth and 12th centuries, the Skuggi
archaeological remains and especially its
archaeofauna contribute to the establish-
ment of an early medieval Hörgárdalur
and Eyjafjörður socio-economic base-
line. The Skuggi farm depended on most-
ly sheep/goats during the Later Viking
Age, changing to more diverse species
utilization during the early medieval
phases, including birds, marine species,
and domesticates. This change in the site
economy profile may indicate that Skuggi
was originally run as a tenant fanu spe-
cializing in sheep/goat herding and possi-
bly had limited control over culling its
own livestock and therefore needed to
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