Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Page 11

AGUSTA EDWALD AND KAREN MILEK
BUILDING AND KEEPING HOUSE IN
19TH-CENTURY ICELAND.
DOMESTIC IMPROVEMENTS AT
HORNBREKKA, SKAGAFJÖRÐUR
This article looks at nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture and the
material culture assemblages from the small farm of Hombrekka in North Iceland.
The discussion centres on the two interrelated processes of building and keeping
house at the farm. An archaeological investigation into these activities provides a
nuanced, bottom up investigation into the material conditions at a mral farm in
Iceland during a period of improvement and modemization.
Agústa Edwald and Karen Milek, Department of Archaeology,
University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
Email: a.edwald@abdn.ac.uk, k.milek@abdn.ac.uk
Keywords: later historical archaeology, household archaeology, material
culture, turfhouses, Hornbrekka.
Introduction
Magnússon (2010) has written on the
living conditions in Icelandic turfhouses
in the 18th and 19th centuries in his book
Wasteland with Words a social history of
Iceland. At the start of his chapter on
material culture he makes an important
observation of how the physical, material
conditions of life “affect the way people
think and how they view the world and
react to everyday experiences” (2010,46).
Magnússon, a historian, uses a series of
contemporary resources, such as diaries,
autobiographies and memoirs as well as
newspaper articles written largely by
social informers, to draw up a picture of
the material conditions in rural Iceland
during this period. His account supports a
well rehearsed narrative of basic,
inadequate housing and lack of concem
for hygiene among the mral classes. He
recalls familiar tropes of dirty floors,
which people frequently spat on, bowls
which were licked clean by dogs and
unkempt hair on dirty bodies. This image
of mral Iceland during the late historic
period is not invented and can, as
Magnússon does, be supported by a
wealth of documentary resources.
However, we would suggest that a focus
on the material culture itself is a fruitful
way to create a more balanced account of
19th century materialities, which will
strengthen the association between the
physical, material conditions of life and
the ‘way people think’.
The Excavation at Hornbrekka
Hombrekka was a small farm in the
northem fjord of Skagafjörður in Iceland
ARCHAEOLOGIA ISLANDICA 10 (2013) 9-27