Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Page 98

GUÐRÚN ALDA GÍSLADÓTTIR, JAMES M. WOOLLETT, UGGI ÆVARSSON, CÉLINE DUPONT-HÉBERT,
ANTHONY NEWTON AND ORRI VÉSTEINSSON
below the grass-roots so excavation was
halted and the mound’s extent is still not
definitively determined.
In 2012 a 3x4 m large excavation area
was opened in the midden area
(surrounding the 2009 test trench) in
order to obtain a substantial animal bone
collection and geoarchaeological
samples. A very large bone collection
that is directly comparable to that of
Svalbarð and that numbers in all
likelihood over 100.000 specimens has
been retrieved to date in Hjálmarvík. As
well, a rich and very intriguing fmds
assemblage ranging from the Viking age
to the Medieval period has been found,
including several elaborate chess pieces,
unique carved bone plaques and combs,
omamental metalwork and utilitarian
worked bone objects.
Sjóhúsvík
In the Sjóhúsvík cove some 700 m west
of Hjálmarvík, is a set of turf mins
located on the edge of a steep bank
overlooking the sea. The Sjóhúsvík site
in fact consists of two groups of mins
representing two different periods. The
northem part of the site consists of a
rectangular turf stracture approximately
10 m long. This feature is built on a crest
of a small hillock and beneath it, to the
southwest, is a docking shed (naust) built
into a rectangular hollow leading to the
shore. Both of these features are well
preserved, clearly visible and appear to
be relatively recent. This site is probably
related to fishing activities; the
rectangular turf stmcture is most likely a
storage shed for fishing equipment, as the
place name suggests, or a fishing booth.
Immediately south of the fishing site is
a narrow gully that drains an adjacent bog
and that effectively divides the site in two.
South of the gully is a meadow filled with
þúfur (hummocks) and a low, oval mound
also covered in þúfur, approximately 10 m
by 15 m in dimension. Connected to the
mound is a poorly preserved turf boundary
wall. The enclosure measures
approximately 50 m x 36 m and bounds an
area of approximately 1250 m2 of boggy
meadow. Both the mound and the turf
wall are obscured by the large þúfur which
impede the precise definition of the
features. Nevertheless, the mound appears
to have been a dwelling of some kind,
possibly related to husbandry as implied
by the turf wall. The poor preservation of
the features suggests that this is a site of
considerable age or that it is substantially
transformed by cryoturbation processes in
the wet meadow. There is no mention of
this site in historical records nor is it
known by Sigtryggur Þorláksson or other
local residents consulted during the course
of this study.
In order to evaluate the mound, a
trench (1x1,6 m) was dug into it in 2012.
In it, a stone faced wall with a turf block
core was exposed after removal of aeolian
silt. A tephra was visible in the turf blocks
but it is not clear at this stage if it is the
H1300 or VI477 ash. On the eastem side
of the wall, thin charcoal patches were
present. In 2011, the site had been cored
and small test trenches were dug into the
boundary wall and into the southem
portion of the mound. The preservation in
the wall trench was so poor that it was
difficult to interpret but both trenches
provided subtle stratigraphic indications
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