Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 13

ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF SELECTED SUBMERGED SITES IN VESTFIRÐIR
understanding the submerged archaeology
in the proximity of these sites.
The project discussed in this paper was
carried out in 2009 - 2010 and focused on
certain areas in the shallow waters around
Vestfírðir to assess the potential for
submerged archaeological sites. The
tjords selected for this project were; 1)
Alftafjörður, where a Norwegian whaling
station was built in the late 19th century. 2)
Önundaríjörður, another 19th century
whaling station. 3) Patreksfjörður and
Tálknafjörður, two important trading
posts in the medieval period. 4) Hveravík
and Paradís, the site of a 17th century
whaling station. 5) Reykjarfjörður, where
three Basque whaling ships sunk in the
17lh century. The selection for this project
was partly based on that each sampling
area had in the vicinity a land based
facility which had a sea based function,
i.e. whaling station, trading post or a
fishing station. The selection was based
around the fact that no archaeological data
exsits on submerged sites in Vestfírðir and
the chance of locating submerged
archaeology is probably highest in close
vicinity to such sites.
The submerged heritage
Icelandic archaeologists have or rare
occasions used underwater methods in
their research and it is only in the recent
years that few have included limited
underwater research in their approach
(Bjami F. Einarsson 1994). The reasons
for this are probably many but it seems that
researchers have always concluded that
underwater sites in Iceland are badly
preserved. This is only an assumption as
no systematic research has ever been done
on the preservation of underwater sites,
especially shipwrecks, in the waters
around Iceland. However, Icelandic
fishing boats ffequently snag their nets on
underwater objects and on many occasion
wreckage, both iron and wood, is brought
to the surface. This strongly suggests that
site preservation underwater is much better
than previously thought. In tmth, marine
research and heritage management in
Iceland is 50 years behind other westem
countries and it is therefore important that
core underwater research, e.g. surveys and
sampling, is started, making it possible to
assess the nature and number of
submerged sites in Iceland.
Even though Icelandic archaeologists have
paid little attention to the submerged
heritage, institutions, individuals, divers
and diving companies have made some
effort in locating wrecks on the seabed.
The Icelandic recreational diving club
(Sportkafarafélag Islands) has a list of
sunken ships around Iceland but the
majority of these ships have not been
located and the list is inconclusive as it
only gives a possible location of a
particular wreck. Various maps exist
showing the location of shipwrecks but
most of these maps do not give an accurate
location and mainly focus on wrecks ffom
the 20th century (www.fishernet.is). The
Icelandic Coast guard has recently in
collaboration with the company Hafmynd
begun surveying the seabed with side-scan
sonars and remote operated vehicles
(ROV) and recently located two second
world war shipwrecks in the Faxaflói bay.
The Icelandic Marine Research Institute
has tliroughout the years located various
shipwrecks during the course of their
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