Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Qupperneq 111

THE LITLU-NÚPAR BURIALS
3-4 enclosures and multiple home field
boundaries. In 2002 a few trial trenches
were dug in boundaries and ruins and
later one ruin was fully excavated
(Aldred 2003, 2004). The excavations
revealed that the origin of the settlement
in Höfðagerði dates back further than
1104 and that while a large part of area
was abandoned early, some parts
continued to be used for a long period, at
least into the 14th or 15th century.
Even if limited excavation has been
conducted on the clusters of mins within
the old property of Núpar, some indication
about their age can be derived from the
boundary system in the area. In the last
few decades an extensive system of
boundaries has been mapped and trenched
in Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla. The system is
compiled of home field boundaries but
also linear boundaries that stretch
alongside contour lines above settlements
and cut across contour lines and often
mark property boundaries. A few
boundaries can be found on the northem
part of Hvammsheiði and all of them lay
straight across Hvammsheiði heath. Two
boundaries were trenched in 2005
revealing that they had both been built
before 1104 (Aldred et al. 2005). The fact
that no boundaries have been laid above
the settlements, alongside the heath might
suggest that the land was not divided up
between the eastem and westem side of
the heath in the first few centuries as was
the case in later centuries. The boundaries
in the area are placed fairly evenly across
the property and they divide the land into
3-4 smaller compartments, each
containing 1-2 of the clusters of rains. It is
possible that all six clusters of ruins in
northem Hvammsheiði represent farms
that were lived on all year round for
considerable time but it must be
considered just as likely that the
settlement consisted of 3-4 farms with
out-stations or shielings on the other side
of the heath. The first clues that the field
survey and the limited trial trenching has
given is that the settlement in the area was
established very early but that it might
have been largely abandoned by the 12th
century. It is not unlikely that the drastic
changes which seem to have happened in
northem Hvammsheiði are a part of a
wider phenomenon that lead to a massive
abandomnent of farms between the llth
and 13th century. Recent research has
shown that up to half of all early
settlement sites in Mývatnssveit were
abandoned between the llth and 13th
century and there it has been suggested
that the reason might have been
depopulation or simply changed land
management (Vésteinsson and McGovem
2012, 213-215). To better understand the
settlement of Litlu-Núpar, when it was
established, when abandoned and perhaps
more importantly the nature of the
settlement and the people who lived in the
area much further research is needed. The
most important clue we have to this point
comes from the heathen burials excavated
by the home field boundary of the site.
Research History of the burials
at Litlu-Núpar
The discovery of the grave field at
Litlu-Núpar dates to the year 1915, when
a chance find of human bone was
reported to the State Antiquarian
Matthías Þórðarson. His description of
the fmd is as follows...
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