Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Page 109

THE LITLU-NÚPAR BURIALS
1104 and the other was at least built long
before 1300 AD. Faint plough marks
were found within both enclosures which
suggest that some sort of cultivation took
place within the enclosures (Pálsdóttir
and Leifsson. 2010, 7 and 17). The outer
home field boundary encloses about 18
ha and the inner one just over 6,5 ha
making Litlu-Núpar well above the
average home fíeld size of abandoned
farm surveyed in the area over last couple
of decades.1 The size of the home field at
Litlu-Núpar and the numbers of ruins
within it suggests that the farm was above
average status. Trial trenching into the
ruins and enclosures as well as the heathen
burials excavated show that the farm was
established fairly early, at least by the
middle of lOth century and was occupied
until the 12th century since no indication
of occupation has been found above the
tephra H1300 in the area. Given these
facts one might expect that a church or a
chapel had been build on the farm in the
1 lth century as was common in many of
the better value farms. However no
indication has been found of such.2 The
reason for this is unknown but it is
possible that the farm’s prosperity had
already started to decline in the llth
century.
The reason for the abandonment of
Litlu-Núpar is still unknown. From
general assessment it can be said that the
area around Litlu-Núpar was most likely
forested at the settlement and that the
home field was likely cleared soon aí'ter
the farm was built, either by buming or
cutting, creating the open landscape that
characterises the area today. The field
survey provoked some questions about
possible land and vegetation changes in
the area. A spring previously ran down the
home field close to the main cluster of
ruins but this dried up at some point in the
past. It also seems likely that the middle of
the inner home field was originally dryer
than it is today. The fact that the highest
concentration of ruins is in that area and
that it is the most likely location of the
farm suggests that it might have been
better agricultural land when these houses
were located there. To this date no
attempts have been made to map the
history of vegetation more closely in the
area but such an attempt could possibly
answer some of the questions raised about
the establishment and abandonment of the
farm. Such research, along with further
excavation would give us a better idea
about the settlement and would increase
our understanding of the settlement on a
macro level. In this context it is interesting
to widen the focus and look at the whole
property of Núpar.
In previous centuries the property of
Núpar used to stretch about 5 km
north-south and owned land on both
westem and eastem side of Hvammsheiði.
A field survey in the area belonging to
Núpar did revealed five clusters of mins in
this area, beside Litlu-Núpar and the farm
1 To put this in context over 90% of the home fields of about 90 clusters of ruins that were surveyed in Kelduhverfi in
Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla were smaller than the one on Litla-Núpur. See Stefán Ólafsson. 2012.
2 Of course the fact that no visibte ruins resemble traditional church buildings does not, on its own, exclude that there
might be such remains under the surface.
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