Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Page 112

HOWELL M. ROBERTS AND ELÍN ÓSK HREIÐARSDÓTTIR
"... An old infield boundary can be seen
around [the ruins] and another boundary fence
somewhat farther out. It has protected the infields,
which had probably all been wooded in ancient
times. Farthest to the north in this land, within the
boundary, two burials have been eroded, as in some
places there has been complete erosion down to the
gravel. In one [burial] there came to light the 3rd of
July this summer, human bones, a human skull. It
so happened that a lad from Laxamýri saw a honey
bee fly into a hummock. He then dug into the
hummock to find the nest and then he found the
skull, as the nest was therein. He went home and
told of his discovery. Egill Sigurjónsson, farmer at
Laxamýri, sent a message to the State Antiquarian,
who was then on his way to the north of the
country, and asked him to investigate the burial.
The State Antiquarian came to Laxamýri the
17th of the same month and investigated the
burials, together with the farmer Egill and his son
Sigurður. They found two, a human grave with a
skull and arm bones, showing that the man had been
laid out with the head to the north and the feet to the
south, and 14 m to the northwest from it they found
remains of a horse burial with a few bones, that
showed that the head of the horse had been to the
north and the haunch to the south. Some of the
horse bones had been moved some distance from
the grave due to erosion, and a short distance from
[the grave] the hip bone from a different horse than
those in the grave. There had been another horse
burial in the vicinity but it could not be found; or
perhaps 2 horses had been buried together in one
grave [...]. Around the horse burial lava stones had
been laid in a circle, and they have been imported
from some distance. There would have been soil
cover and probably wood over the burial site at the
time of construction." (Þórðarson 1917, 32;
Translation by Mjöll Snæsdóttir)
Unfortunately, little further detail is
known and the precise nature of these
finds remains to some degree opaque.
Adolf Friðriksson revisited the site in
2004, and following the 1915 description
was able to identify a probable location.
Investigation of the then current erosion
face revealed the remains of a burial
(Burial I - see fígure 3). Furtherinore,
several shallow depressions were noted
to the south and east, suggestive of
disturbed burials. Excavation of one of
the latter revealed a grave pair (Burial II
- see figure 3).
In 2006 three trial trenches were
excavated targeting three separate
buildings some distance to the west and
south west of the burial finds (see above)
and only in 2007 was research resumed
within the grave field, in collaboration
with the local archaeological society
(Hið þingeyska fornleifafélag). The most
prominent visible disturbance in the
ground surface, overgrown with shrubs,
seemed improbably large for a
semi-filled and overgrown burial,
measuring circa 2.5m in length and lm in
width prior to the removal of vegetation
and topsoil. A trial trench was opened
across this depression, but initially
seemed unpromising. However, as
excavation progressed fírst one and then
several corroded iron clench bolts, nails
and other fragments emerged. The nature
of the find remained unclear, so the
excavation area was extended stepwise to
a total of 3m x 7m, as the complete extent
of a large cut feature became apparent -
elongated, widest at the centre and
tapering to both ends.
Continued excavation confirmed the
unmistakable form of a boat burial (Burial
III) - the first discovered in Iceland since
1964 and only the fifth compelling
example known at that date (see Eldjám
2000, 275-282 for a detailed discussion).
Since 2007 a further example has been
excavated at Hringsdalur in Amafjörður in
the West fjords, and another proposed at
Kumlabrekka in Mývatnssveit. Excavation
in 2008 addressed the areas directly NNW
and SSE of the boat grave. To the south we
excavated a 'person shaped' grave with
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