Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Page 56

MAGNUS HELLQVIST
The idea of an interdisciplinary approach
is of great value in archaeological projects
in Iceland and has been developed in
earlier projects such as in Reykholt (e.g.
Buckland et.al., 1992; Sveinbjamadóttir,
2004).
The main deposits being sampled in
Hólar are the extant floors of excavated
buildings, rather than the various
constmctions and other features placed in
the settlement area around former
buildings. Former house floor deposits are
normally problematic to investigate
scientifícally in excavations in other
Nordic countries, as they are often poorly
preserved and have suffered a high level of
destmction from various activities in the
houses. However, in Iceland, sampling of
floor deposits is more common since both
the silt and organic rich floor material as
well as the climatic situation provides
much better preservation, while other
types of potential constractions and
features for sampling (e.g. wells,
postholes and pits) are found less
commonly than during archaeological
excavations in other Scandinavian
countries.
Iceland presents several advantages
when sampling floor deposits in former
buildings: organic remains are typically
well preserved and houses are
continuously used for a long time. This
longevity of houses provides preservation
in situ of floor deposits in Iceland as well
as in, for example Greenland, and allows
Kolkuós
.Akureyri
Eriksstaðir
Bessastaðir^Reykjavik
Hofsstaðir
Akraland
100 200 300
■EZZZZZISIIHi Kilometer
Figure 1
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