Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 97

FARMSTEAD RELOCATION AT THE END OF THE VIKING AGE.
RESULTS OF THE SKAGAFJÖRÐUR ARCHAEOLOGICAL SETTLEMENT SURVEY
moving the farmstead uphill to the edge of
the ridge; however the original occupants
of the farm were clearly aware of these
conditions as they constructed the original
longhouse on the best drained area. While
localized environmental change cannot be
ruled out as a factor influencing the
movement at Glaumbær, it does not appear
to a significant factor.
Christian conversion and
changing perceptions of the
landscape
Lucas (2009) has recently suggested that
the relocation of the Viking Age farmstead
at Hofstaðir in Mývatnssveit may have
been, in part, a response to Christianization.
Hofstaðir exhibits evidence for ritual
practices with religious connotations such
as feasting and animal sacrifice that may
have been closely associated with the
Viking Age farmstead site (Lucas and
McGovem 2007). In this view, the original
Viking Age hall at Hofstaðir may have
been abandoned and ritually closed as a
part of the negotiated transition between
the old and new beliefs and practices
(Lucas 2009:407-408). Many relocated
sites are known to have medieval Christian
churches and this association raises the
general question of whether or not
farmstead relocation reflected a need to
distance the newly Christian households
from the close association between pagan
ritual practices and the farmstead.
Christian conversion may have required
not just a change in worldview but also a
change in the physical landscape.
Both the medieval farmsteads at Upper
Stóra-Seyla and Upper Glaumbær had
churches. However, in the study area there
are instances in which farms that were
established before the official conversion
to Christianity, and that had churches in
the medieval period, did not relocate.
There is historical or material evidence for
churches at Reynistaður, Geldingaholt,
Holtsmúli, and Hafsteinsstaðir (Pálsson
2001). None of these farmsteads shows
evidence for significant movement in the
11* century (or any other time before the
20th century), although it is important to
note that these churches have not been
excavated and it is unknown when they
were established. At other sites, outside the
survey area, excavations have confirmed
pagan and Christian activities apparently
associated with the same farmstead site.
For example, at Keldudalur on Hegranes
pagan era burials and an early Christian
church and cemetery dating to the 1 lth and
12th centuries has been recovered (Zoéga
and Sigurðarson 2010). Hrísbrú in
Mosfellsdalur also has evidence for both
pagan and Christian practices associated
with the same farmstead location (Byock,
et al. 2005). Perhaps most telling is that at
Lower Seyla a Christian cemetery was
established at the site of the Viking Age
farmstead before it moved. The cemetery
then appears to have been moved along
with the rest of the farmstead in the late
llth centuiy. While there is no evidence
demonstrating pagan ritual or burial
practices at Stóra-Seyla, the fann was
established long before the general
introduction of Christianity to Iceland and
it seems likely that the early residents
participated in practices appropriate to the
pagan worldview prior to conversion.
Either way, Lower Seyla had clearly been
fully adapted to Christian practice before
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