Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Síða 85

THE SVALBARÐ PROJECT
destroyed by bulldozing. A second low
mound was noted in an enclosed yard
around the modem house and it is possible
that further work in this area might reveal
traces of older site occupations.
Þorvaldsstaðasel A & B
The sheiling-name Þorvaldssaðasel is
associated with an area of boggy
lowlands east of the Svalbarðsá river,
alongside the Þorvaldsstaðaá stream, a
tributary of Svalbarðsá. The farm-name
Þorvaldsstaðir is preserved as an element
in several placenames in the area but its
location is unknown and no historical
information has survived about the farm
or the Þorvaldur who gave it his name.
Given that the Þorvaldsstaðir place-name
is preserved in both the sheiling-name
and a distant upland pasture, it seems
likely that a farm named Þorvaldsstaðir
did once exist in the area. Two sites in
the boggy area by Þorvaldsstaðaá have
been identified and there has been
confusion about which of them should be
called Þorvaldsstaðasel, a well-known
local place-name. In this study, the more
westerly ruin, which is closer to
Svalbarðsá, will be called Beitarhús, as
this was the use of this structure in the
memory of Sigtryggur’s Þorláksson, the
now-retired farmer at Svalbarð, while the
other is given the Þorvaldsstaðasel
placename.
Beitarhús
Beitarhús is the well-preserved min of a
recent beitarhús located on the north bank
of the Þorvaldsstaðaá stream, about 2.7 km
SSE from the Svalbarð farm.
The beitarhús is a substantial min and,
with its seven rooms, is much more
complex than beitarhús min stmctures
with just one byre room for the sheep and
store-room for hay, a type of stmcture
documented at Hólsfjöll, N-Þingeyjarsýsla,
for example (see Ævarsson 2007). It can
be difficult to concretely distinguish a
small farm from a shieling or a beitarhús
but this elaborate rain comprising multiple
auxillary rooms suggests that it may have
had another role before it was used as a
sheep house for winter grazing. The mins
are situated on a low rise in the midst of
boggy and hummocked heath. A low turf
boundary wall encloses the site. The
predominately grassy vegetation within
the walls is a marked contrast to the
Empetrum-dominated hagi outside the
wall. A dozen soil core tests were taken at
this site. Two cores in a small room at the
eastem edge of the complex showed wood
ash and charcoal at 22 cm and 50 - 60 cm
depth respectively. In one core, tephra
resembling VI477 was visible at 65 cm
depth. To the west side of the structure, the
core revealed massive rock at the depth of
23-26 cm under the surface. These cores
suggest that there are traces of an
occupation phase older than the visible
ruin in areas with deeper soil
accumulation.
Þorvaldsstaðasel
Þorvaldsstaðasel is a beautiful site that
stands out from its flat surroundings. The
mins comprise two major elements, an
enclosed pen and rather high mound,
situated in a moist heath landscape with
very high hummocks, bogs, low birch,
dwarf birch, ling, grass and gravelly
areas. After an initial survey in 2009 it
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