Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2013, Page 129

THE LITLU-NÚPAR BURIALS
V). When the chosen day comes, the first
deceased is transferred to the boat, perhaps
hidden from view (or hidden from the
view of some non-privileged part of the
audience). During this process, a few
decorative items are lost from the external
clothing and remain in Burial IV. Some of
the dog bones are removed - but not the
skull. Burial III is closed, along with
Burials IV and V, and the temporary
structures removed. A few years later, a
second individual dies. Burial III is
reopened, and the second individual - a
family member - is added. At this time a
horse is led to Burial VI, slaughtered and
buried. This process is then repeated when
a third family member dies. Burial III is
re-opened, a body added, and a third horse
buried nearby (Burial VII). Burial II,
perhaps, occurs during this time period -
but is not a direct family member. The
grave follows the placement and alignment
of the boat grave, but at some remove.
Burial I, and the 1915 fmds are thus rnore
remote members of the household, or
altematively pre-date the boat grave. At
some point, the horse in Burial VI is
carefully excavated, disarticulated and
re-buried. At a later point, some or perhaps
all of the remaining graves are reopened,
perhaps for purposes of theft, desecration,
or removal of the individuals to another
location. The motivation for these acts can
be various, multiple and are anyway as yet
unknown to us.
Some of the above may be fanciful,
and is certainly un-provable. Neither the
available dating techniques nor the limited
stratigraphy of the site allow us to resolve
the sequence of events to that level.
Other boat graves in Iceland also
contain the remains of several individuals.
For instance, at Vatnsdalur in
Patreksfjörður (Eldjám 2000, 115) the
remains of seven individuals were found
within a boat grave of similar dimensions
to Burial III at Litlu-Núpar. Whilst it is
accepted that some of these individuals
may have died and been buried together, it
stretches credibility that seven bodies
could have been comfortably
accommodated at one time. It seems much
more reasonable that this grave served for
several funerals, and that it too may be
regarded as some type of mausoleum. The
other Icelandic boat burials also seem to be
similar in size (excepting Kaldárhöfði - see
figure 16) and are also thought to serve a
similar function.
Concluding Remarks
The farm at Litlu-Núpar was established
early and the size of the home field and
numbers of ruins within it suggest that it
was a fairly substantial farm. The
indication of the field survey and limited
trenching in the home field give suggests
an early decline and abandonment of the
farm. A wider survey in the northem
Hvammsheiði suggests that the
abandonment might have been a part of a
wider trend, much like what happened in
Mývatnssveit in the same period.
However, given the limited trenching
much further research is needed to
understand these sites, their function and
abandonment. Such researches, along
with further excavation of the
pre-Christian burials could give us
valuable information about the
settlement on northen Hvammsheiði
from settlement until abandonment.
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