Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 37

A FIREWOOD EXPERIMENT AT EIRÍKSSTAÐIRI A STEP TOWARDS QUANTIFYING THE USE OF FIREWOOD
FOR DAILY HOUSEHOLD NEEDS IN VIKING AGE ICELAND
“natural temperature” (affected only by
the outside weather conditions) as the fíre
died down.
There was no significant variation of
the temperature of the interior. Thus,
while the outdoor temperature ranged
from 2-18° C, the indoor temperature
varied most (from 8 to 16°C) at
thermometer 2, which was in the
eastemmost entry room, well away from
the fireplace and only indirectly exposed
to radial heat from the fire, and least at
thermometer 4, positioned in the main
room (from 16 to 21 °C).
Further, while temperatures in the
smaller rooms reached no more than 16°C
(thermometer 2, eastemmost room) and
17°C (thermometer 5, westemmost room),
the temperature inside the main room
showed a considerably higher maximum
temperature. Thus, while the temperature
at thermometer 4 reached 21°C, that at
thermometer 3 reached 27°C several
times. While this would probably have
been unusually warm for the average
living conditions of the Viking Age
population, it should be remembered that
it was recorded only at the location of this
thermometer, which was closest to the
fire. The variations of temperature in
different parts of the house show that it is
hard to speak of a uníform average
Temperature change over time
—O—12
—13
-x—14
-x-t5
Wood Tirme
Figiire 3. Line-chart of temperature measurements at each ofthejive thermometers, also
indicating burning-time of each of the sub-units of wood, time of the fire ignition and its
extinction
* 1 - fire ignition
*2 - second unit (20-40 kg) started at 01:45
*3 - third unit (40-60 kg) started at 10:15
*4 - fourth unit (60-80 kg) started at 19:10
*5 - fifth unit (80-100 kg) started at 03.50; last piece of woodput at 11:48
*6 - fire extinction
*7 - end
35