Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 10

GAVIN LUCAS
apparent simplicity. In her article, Sigrid
Cecilie Juel Hansen examines not only the
source material used in their manufacture
but also explores their formal variation to
discem a basic typology and examines
taphonomic issues of fragmentation. Such
detailed analysis is sure to provide new
information and interpretive potential for
this humble object.
This issue of Archaeologia Islandica
closes with some broad interpretive
reflections on the early settlement
processes in Iceland, based on detailed
investigations in the Langholt region of
Skagafjörður. Part of the aims of the
Skagatjörður Archaeological Settlement
Survey (SASS) headed by Douglas
Bolender and John Steinberg was to test
the prior assumption that the later
historical pattem of settlement is a fair
reflection of the earlier Viking age
landscape. They found it was, despite their
initial expectations to the contrary.
However, they also found that 1 lth century
relocation of Viking period farmsteads - a
known occurrence from other regions of
Iceland - is rather rare; most Viking age
farmsteads lie beneath faim mounds and
exhibit long-term continuity of place. Yet
ironically, relocated sites have tended to be
the focus of most archaeological
investigations of Viking age settlements,
implying that our current knowledge must
be biased. In their article, Bolender,
Steinberg and Damiata discuss the various
reasons for relocation and abandonment,
but conclude that perhaps the more
interesting question is not why some
farmsteads relocated, but rather why most
did not - and why relocation all but ceased
after the 1 lth century.
After nearly two decades in which
research and fieldwork in Icelandic
archaeology has seen unprecedented
growth, it seems that we are now entering
a phase where the results and conclusions
of such research will start to appear at an
equally unprecedented rate. In however
small a way, this joumal aims to contribute
to this process and I am pleased to offer the
reader the following papers which
exemplify the diversity and quality of
archaeological research now being
conducted in Iceland
8