Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Qupperneq 101

THE SVALBARÐ PROJECT
a door in the middle of its southem,
inland-facing wall. Five meters to the west
is a second smaller turf min, a square
stmcture measuring 4 by 5m. A notable
mound about 5m in diameter is present
just east of the larger stmcture. Soil core
tests within the larger stmcture revealed
organic turfy deposits overlaying deposits
interpreted as floor deposit with
indications of manure. In the eastem part
of the house ash and wood were more
evident. The mound east of the stmcture is
about 1 m high. The coring showed
organic deposits, shell and sand, and
below a tephra (resembling VI477) there
was laminated turf and below that what
looked like powdered charcoal. No
tephras were observed within the houses.
Because of its size and shape, the larger
West Borg turf stmcture appears to have
been a sheep house which may also have
been used as a dwelling, given the
presence of peat ash in its floor deposits.
The mound is of uncertain origin but it
may be medieval given the presence of a
tephra (possibly V1477) overlying
deposits with traces of charcoal. The West
Borg stmcture is of interest for future
study given its possible age, the presence
of organic deposits in its floor and the
possibility of organic preservation offered
by the capacity of shell sand to neutralize
soil acids.
Kúðá
Kúða is first mentioned in the 1712 land
register as Kúðársel and is then described
as a hjáleiga belonging to Svalbarð. It
had then been more or less deserted since
1672, except for two years between 1694
and 1696. The occupation of the farm
was sporadic in the 18th and early 19th
century and it is not until 1866 that the
farm became continuously occupied
(Þormóðsson 1970, 65) until 1966
(Elentínusson 2003, 460).
The Kúðá farm site is between a pair
of prominent hills overlooking the Kúðá
stream. On the southem hill is a modem
concrete house abandoned in the 1960s
and turf outbuildings, while outbuildings
and a part of the homefield extend up to
the northem hill. Sheltered between the
two hills is a section of a terrace above the
stream and mins of an extensive and
complex turf house stmcture measuring
approximately 35m by 25m and several
turf farm outbuildings, many of which are
in extremely good states of preservation.
Other outbuildings are scattered in the
homefield to the southwest of the turf
house min, and several turf enclosures and
animal pens are located east of the farm
complex, at the foot of the steep slope
leading to the stream.
Intensive soil core testing and test
trenching at Kúða now provides a
reasonably complete survey of the
northeastem part of the home field and the
most thoroughly built-up part of the farm.
This work has identified three principal
zones of archaeological deposition other
than the visible recent turf mins
themselves. The fírst is a band of midden
deposits mnning along the eastem edge of
the recent farmhouse min and the slope
bordering the eastem side of the house.
These deposits denote an extended history
of occupation of the farm including the
medieval period and the 19th to 20th
centuries. The widespread and thick
accumulation of what is preliminarily
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