Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Page 26

AGUSTA EDWALD AND KAREN MILEK
excavation of the farmhouse at
Hombrekka, the majority of which were
found in the last occupation phase of the
kitchen (phase 3). The lamps almost
certainly made the rooms brighter, but
also much less smoky and sooty, as the
fish liver oil lamps and tallow candles
produce much more smoke and soot
when buming. The windows and the
kerosene lamps will have made all
cleaning much easier and contemporary
commentators appear to agree that in the
last decades of the 19th century there was
a marked increase on the washing of
floors and fumiture, clothing and the
person (e.g. Bjarnason 1892,
Sigurðardóttir 1906).
Glass sherds from bottles and jars
demonstrate the purchase of ready-made
foodstuffs such as condiments and
preserves. These were only recovered
from the two latest phases of the farm
building, suggesting a wider subsistence
base than in earlier phases, underpinned
by increased purchasing power and
availability of mass produced materials.
Apart from these indicators of the
households’ subsistence economy other
artefacts point towards leisure activities,
such as the consumption of alcohol and
tobacco. These included six fragments of
clay tobacco pipes, of which four were
recovered from the earlier phase of the
midden. The absence of tobacco pipes in
later deposits probably reflects the
prevalence of chewing tobacco in
19th-century Iceland rather than
abstinence. Sherds from bottles, which
will probably have held alcohol, were
much more abundant in the later
occupation phases and a base of a stem
glass was found in the post abandonment
phase of the kitchen. It was heavily wom
and had a pontil mark suggesting a much
earlier date than the early 20th century.
A few items relating to clothing were
found, both within the building and in the
midden. These mostly consisted of small
scraps of leather and woven cloth that
have not been analysed fully but are most
likely homemade. Wire clothing
fasteners were similarly probably
fashioned in the house, while more
elaborate buttons made of glass and
copper alloys and clasps were probably
bought. These were found in small
quantities throughout the excavation.
Some of these were decorated and
probably belonged to a specific item of
clothing, such as the heart shaped clasp
found in the later phase of the midden
(Fig 9).
The households at Hombrekka were
far from being isolated production or
consumption units. They exchanged wool,
mutton and fish for crockery, glass jars,
clothing and building materials. The
families could be described as being poor,
as is suggested by zooarchaeolgoical
record which demonstrates the extensive
breaking up of mammal bones for
maximum marrow extraction and the
consumption of horses and cod heads
(Hicks and Harrison 2011) and frequency
of ceramic repairs may further support
such a conclusion, along with the low
value attributed to the land and its
buildings in the written records. The
purchasing of the varied material culture
alongside the laying down of wooden
floors and the panelling of walls is,
however, an unmistakable indication of
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