Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2010, Page 107

RECONSTRUCTING ASPECTS OF THE DAILY LIFE IN LATE 19TH AND EARLY
20TH-CENTURY ICELAND: ARCHAEOENTOMOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE
VATNSFÖRÐUR FARM, NW ICELAND
hay store and the cellar, were also rather
poor. Finally, it was possible to recon-
struct some details of the local landscape.
The insect evidence suggests that in the
last century the environment of the site
was dominated by grasslands and wet
meadows, not unlike its current setting.
On the whole, it seems that the inhab-
itants of Vatnsfjörður had rather good liv-
ing standards in the late 19^ and early
20“ century. In 1906, they abandoned the
last turf dwelling house to live in a newly
built timber house, while new material
and building techniques seem to have
gained popularity in other rural areas of
Iceland around 15 years later (Jónsson &
Dýrmundsson 2000, 305). The insect evi-
dence along with archaeological fínds
also suggests that the inhabitants of the
site have been able to purchase more than
basic necessities. Artefacts recovered
from Vatnsfjörður’s 19^ and 20^ centu-
ry deposits include wine bottles, medicine
vials, tobacco pipes and Chinese porce-
lain (Lucas 2009), indicating that
Vatnsíjörður’s occupants were able to
purchase not only grain but also tobacco,
alcohol and other “high status“ commodi-
ties. Preliminary results of the zooarchae-
ological analysis suggest a mixed
economy, with a wide use of the resources
from the land and the sea (Dupont-Hébert
2009). The físh, meat and eider down
available in the local environment may
have been used not only for on-site con-
sumption, but also as trading products.
Although Vatnsfjörður seems to have
benefited from the economic growth and
increase in foreign trade in Iceland in the
late 19^ and early 201^ century, the sani-
tary conditions in the turf house were not
better than elsewhere in the country.
According to the insect analysis, the
house was damp and storage conditions
were poor, more closely fítting with
descriptions of Jónasson (1961) than
Karlsson (2000b). Future work, including
the examination of archaeological con-
texts of living quarters dating from the
early 19^ century, will potentially allow
an appreciation of change in sanitation
over time and indicate whether
Vatnsfjörður’s occupants followed the
recommendations and laws that were pub-
lished from the late 19“ century.
Acknowledgments
The excavations at VatnsQörður from 2004-2009
were generously funded by Háskólasetrið
Vestfjarða (University Centre of the Westfjords),
Vestfirðir á Miðöldum (Medieval Westfjords
Society), the Government of Iceland, and
Fornleifasjóður (Archaeological Excavation Fund).
This entomological study was made possible
through the financial support of the Social Science
and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the
Research Fund on Society and Culture of the
Government of Quebec, and the Faculty of Arts at
Université Laval, Quebec, Canada.
Identifications of insect remains have been
done by the lead author, who would like to express
her gratitude to Jan Klimaszewski, Georges
Pelletier, Erling Olafsson, and Hrönn Konráðsdóttir
for their help with some specimens. Many thanks
are also due to James Woollett and Gardar
Guðmundsson, who provided invaluable support
and logistical help, and to Frédéric Dussault and
Maryse Cloutier-Gélinas for their assistance with
the processing and sorting of archaeoentomological
samples. Oscar Aldred provided some of the illus-
trations, and the text has benefited from the com-
ments of Agústa Edwald, Hrönn Konráðsdóttir,
Paul M. Ledger and an anonymous reviewer.
References
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