Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2011, Page 98

DOUGLAS J. BOLENDER, JOHN M. STEINBERG AND BRIAN N. DAMIATA
moving. There, at least, it seems clear that
Christianization had nothing to do with the
decision to relocate the farmstead.
At Glaumbær no Christian church or
cemetery has been identified at the Lower
farmstead, despite extensive geophysical
surveying. We therefore presume that the
earliest church is close to the present
church near the relocated Upper Glaumbær
farmstead. The relatively late date for the
farm raises the possibility that it was
established by people already holding a
Christian worldview. Certainly the farm is
associated with early Christianity in later
accounts (Þorláksson 2001). With no
current evidence that the site ever had a
pagan past, it nonetheless was relocated
toward the end of the 1 lth century.
The evidence from Skagafjörður
should not be seen as undermining the
idea that changing ritual and religious
practices influenced the relocation of
some farmsteads in the 1 lth century, only
that it cannot be a general explanation of
farmstead relocation. There is evidence
that Hofstaðir was not a typical pagan
household but rather a site of special
ritual performance and sacrifice (Lucas
2009:404). Likewise, the superposition of
early cemetery and longhouse at
Keldudalur (Zoega 2008) raises the
possibility that the adoption of Christian
practices may have prompted other, more
subtle, spatial reorganizations at
farmsteads.
Farmstead size and household
status
The association between relocated
farmsteads and Christian churches may be
due to other factors. In Langholt and other
areas, Christian churches are often
associated with larger farms (but see
Zoéga and Sigurðarson 2010) and the
single obvious fact that Stóra-Seyla and
Glaumbær share is their large size (7200
m2 and 7100 m2) compared to most of the
other farmsteads in the region. While
farmstead relocation is relatively rare in
Langholt when all of the farms are
considered, half of the largest farmsteads
relocate. Perhaps size, as an index of other
attributes of the farm or farming
household, may be relevant, if not
detenninative, to their relocation.
In the survey area, farmstead size is
largely predicted by the order of farm
establishment; earlier farms tend to be
larger than later farms. Lower Glaumbær
is a distinct outlier in this pattem being
much larger than other farmsteads
established around the same time.
Elsewhere, we have argued that the order
and location of new farmsteads may be
related to changes in land tenure practices
and the property status of later farms and
farming households as the marginal
productive value of household labor
provided a strong incentive for landowners
to settle former dependents on their own
estates in exchange for rents or other labor
obligations (Bolender, et al. 2008; see also
Jakobsson 2005; Sölvason 1991). Many
of the smaller and later farms are located
between earlier, larger farms, and almost
certainly on lands that were already
included in the property of one or the other
farm. The small size of these later
farmsteads makes it unlikely that later
households could have muscled their way
into these lands without the explicit
consent of their earlier neighbors. This
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