Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 18

RAGNAR EDVARDSSON • ARNAR ÞÓR EGILSSON
reversed compass heading following
parallel lines (Fig. 4).
Area A. Dvergasteinn
The composition of the seabed in area A
was primarily clay and sand and was little
perturbed by wave action as the area is
sheltered. The epifauna is sparse and
dominated by mussels, starfishes, urchins
and crabs. The seabed gradually deepens
towards the east and the depth is about 20
meters 100 meters from the shore. In this
area a large number of archaeological
remains where recorded and most of them
were associated with the Norwegian
whalers in the 19th century. Whale bones
were recorded everywhere within the
sampling area, skulls, ribs, vertebrae, etc.
A number of artifacts were also
recorded in different places within the
sampling areas, ceramics, glass, bottles,
etc. Two bottles and two ceramic pieces
were lifted for further analysis. Both
bottles are probably wine and beer bottles
ífom the late 19th cenmry. One of the
ceramic vessels was a white soup bowl
with blue stripes and is stamped in the
center (Fig. 5). The stamp reads
SS/Norway and it is likely that it originates
from a ship with that name. Further
research into the name showed that the
ship SS/Norway was a steamer and
belonged to the Scottish Allen line. This
shipping line transported emigrants from
Figure 5. Stamped soup bowl from Alftajjörður.
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