Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 105

RECONSTRUCTING ASPECTS OF THE DAILY LIFE IN LATE 19TH AND EARLY
20TH-CENTURY ICELAND: ARCHAEOENTOMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE
VATNSFÖRÐUR FARM, NW ICELAND
Context E: Corridor Levelling
Layer 7542
Context 7542 was interpreted as a level-
ling layer for the floor of the building’s
corridor. This deposit was made of turf
and contained a few inclusions of brick
fragments, charcoal, coal, wood, slag and
glass. The archaeoentomological assem-
blage yielded 203 individuals, including
198 beetles and five ectoparasites (Table
2). As this deposit was primarily com-
posed of turf debris, the presence of bee-
tles associated with organic matter and
mouldy hay is not surprising (Fig. 14).
The turf used to level this area may have
been collected near stagnant water, as
suggested by the presence of three speci-
mens of Hydroporus nigrita, a species
strictly associated with aquatic environ-
ments. The presence of the fauna associ-
ated with outdoor environments may be
the result of accidental transport as the
site’s occupants entered the building, or
they may have been transported with the
material used to level the floor. The three
human lice, two sheep keds and six
Tipnus unicolor may also be the fortu-
itous result of people using the corridor.
Sanitary conditions at 20th century
Vatnsjjörður
Ectoparasites and other insects suggest
the level of personal hygiene of the
inhabitants of a site and allude to the gen-
eral sanitary conditions within dwellings.
Only one parasitic species exclusively
associated with humans could be identi-
fied: the human louse (Pediculus
humanus). In all, only four specimens
were found, three in the corridor levelling
layer (context E) and one in floor 7531
(context A). Their presence indicates that
the people who lived at Vatnsfjörður in
the early 20^ century had lice, but any
further interpretations based on such low
numbers would be mere speculation.
Rove or staphylinid beetles were iden-
tified in every one of these archaeoento-
mological assemblages, suggesting the
presence of organic matter inside the
building. At least part of this organic mat-
ter would have been brought in with turf
used as building material. Some of the
rove beetles, pests of stored products
(Tipnus unicolor and Ptinus tectus), and
mycetophagous beetles living in old hay
(Lathridiidae and Cryptophagidae), are
also indicators of damp storage conditions
(Amett Jr. et al. 2002, 339; Bousquet
1990, 129 -156; Campbell et al. 1989,
147-326). Furthermore, if the fleas found
in deposits associated with the cellar 7503
were associated with rodents feeding on
stored products, this would imply that the
site’s inhabitants suffered from stores
infested with multiple types of vermin!
This hypothesis remains speculative as the
fleas could not be identified to the species
level. These fleas may have been bird fleas
from eider down or puffin carcasses.
Vatnsjjörður ’s local environment in
the late 19th & early 20th century
Insects associated with outdoor environ-
ments, yet found in cultural deposits, can
be considered the “background fauna”, as
defined by Kenward (1975; 1976). Some
of these insects are likely to have been
brought on the site along with hay, turf and
peat. But as these resources were available
in Vatnsforður and its surroundings, the
outdoor component of the assemblages
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