Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 72

SIGRID CECILIE JUEL HANSEN
the medieval period in Iceland. My
current hypothesis is that this decrease is
perhaps linked to the fact that the dark
grey schist stones were primarily brought
to Iceland by individuals during the
settlement period and was not included in
the organized trade, as the Eidsborg stone
after AD 1000. The same hypothesis
could also be applied to the occurrence of
single fmds of various silt and sandstone
types, which were commonly used as
whetstone material in the eastem and
southem part of Scandinavia and the
Baltic, and even the British Isles, but not
in Iceland.
Icelandic Dolerite
Not all the whetstones were of foreign
origin. To a minor degree dolerite, which
occurs naturally in Iceland but is inferior
in quality compared to the imported schist
types, has been used as whetstone material
(Bragason 2009). It must be regarded as
secondary to the schist whetstones and
mostly mentioned in the ethnographic
sources in connection with more rough
jobs such as sharpening the turf cutters
(Guðjónsson and Einarsson '). It seems
that local Icelandic rock types were rarely
used as whetstone material during the
medieval and pre-medieval periods and
that the use in post-medieval Iceland
varies geographically. For instance, it was
not utilized as whetstone material in
Skálholt, but in Hólar in Hjaltadalur it was
well-represented, making up 5.8% of the
collection, perhaps due to the local
sources in the area (Sauðámes in
Skagafjörður) or varying access or ability
to acquire foreign schist whetstones.
Fuller understanding of local variations in
whetstone use in Iceland, however, must
await further investigation of local
geology, the availability of local Icelandic
whetstone material, and more studies of
post-medieval collections,
Whetstone trade
Based on the types of source material
present in the Icelandic whetstone
collection, it is clear that the large
majority of whetstones were of foreign
origin and must have been imported to
Iceland. The Eidsborg schist is the only
type for which the source, production, and
exchange network are well-known, as it
was part of a well-documented and
organized trade ífom Norway. Surely, the
modem schistose whetstone types were
also part of an established trade, but little
is known about this within an Icelandic
context. The dark gray schist whetstones
and various sand and silt whetstone types
were probably primarily brought to
Iceland in a more random selection as part
of the initial settlement package. Perhaps
the dark grey schist were also later object
of trade but in low scale or it could have
just been brought by individuals as part of
their personal possessions. The dolerite
was locally present in several areas in
Iceland and probably only utilized as a
secondary addition to the schist
whetstones, though very little is still
known about the use of this stone
archaeologically.
' Mentioned in the questionnaires sent out by the ethnographic department of the National Museum of Iceland, Þjóöháttadeild
“016 - Torfskurður og móverk” see: Guðmundur Guðjónsson (2612961608) source nr. Nr. 1541 and Guðmundur Steinn
Einarsson (2805172599) source nr. Nr. 2792)
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