Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 101

RECONSTRUCTING ASPECTS OF THE DAILY LIFE IN LATE 19TH AND EARLY
20TH-CENTURY ICELAND: ARCHAEOENTOMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE
VATNSFÖRÐUR FARM, NW ICELAND
Their presence, along with the interpreta-
tion of the deposit as an unconsolidated
floor (7525) on top of which shelves may
have been placed to elevate stored goods
to avoid decay (Ævarsson & Gísladottir
2008,73), confirms the cellar was used for
storage. The insect associated with
mouldy hay and with organic matter could
have arrived in the cellar along with hay or
peat, and some might also have derived
from turf as building material. Once again,
the presence of a few water beetles
(Hydroporus nigritá), does suggest the
presence of the latter in the room.
Environmental conditions in this room, as
in most cellars, were probably rather cool
and damp, as suggested by the presence of
numerous Tipnus unicolor as well as
Cryptophagus and Lathridius species.
Thus, it is most likely that the goods stored
here were not cereals, as grain stores
require drier conditions. Furthermore,
Creophilus maxillosus and Omalium
riparium, which were also in this assem-
blage, are often found on carrion. Their
presence along with fleas (Siphonaptera
indet.), as well as numerous types of ani-
mal remains observed in the matrix of the
sample, suggests that animal products
were stored in this room.
Some of the insect taxa can give indi-
cations about the nature of these animal
products. The two most plausible expla-
nations for the presence of a high number
of fleas in the cellar is that they were
either infesting the animals from which
the stored products were obtained, which
may have been animal skins, puffin car-
casses or eider down; or they were para-
sitizing rodents living in the cellar. It is
not clear yet whether the simultaneous
presence of numerous fleas and spider
beetles indicates a specific activity area
or material since the fleas were not iden-
tified to species. However, the lead
author has observed the presence of a
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Figure 11. Distribution of insects from Context C according to their ecological preferences.
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