Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Page 29

Surveying The Assembly Site And Churches Of Þingeyrar
According to written sources, the direct
predecessor of the present stone church was
a modest turf building that was only used
for approximately 60 years. The description
of this building does not seem to fit well with
the church layout detected in the resistivity
data, which reveals a church nave measur-
ing at least 15 (possibly even 23)x9 m with a
relatively solidly constructed apse. A regular
series of smaller anomalies along the walls
might represent column bases. The apse ap-
pears subcircular in our data. Such apses are
unusual for Icelandic churches but are not
unknown. Examples are known from the
episcopal sees at Skálholt (Brynjólfskirkja)
and Hólar (Halldórukirkja), both high-
status churches dating to the 17th and 18th
centuries (e.g. Stefánsson 1997, Figs. 7 and
8). It is, however, possible that the shape of
the anomaly is misleading and that the apse
is in fact rectangular or polygonal.
The resistivity survey has revealed a
large and elaborate church building that
seems to match best the description of the
church commissioned by Lárus Gottrup
and built in 1695. Gottrup’s church was a
stave church, but it is most likely that the
wooden walls were supported by rows of
stones, which would explain the high-re-
sistance anomalies. Gottrup 's stave church
is reported to have been 14 m long, with an
octagonal tower over the centre of the roof
and a richly decorated interior with pillars.
There is, however, no mention of an apse
(Harðardóttir 2006).
Another possibility is that the resistiv-
ity results do not represent a single build-
ing phase but consist of several overlapping
structures from different phases. The tenta-
tive wall, which seems to run off from the
western gable towards the north, would
support this interpretation. Moreover,
the apse appears to be positioned slightly
off-centre with respect to the large nave.
Although the individual building phases
cannot be outlined in detail on the basis
of the resistivity data, there appears to be
evidence that the church was indeed rebuilt
several times at the same location, as Zoéga
et al. (2006,15 f.) have suggested. This find-
ing leads to the question regarding whether
the previous churches of Þingeyrar, includ-
ing the church that belonged to the former
monastery, all stood on the same spot, or
whether locations changed, as is the case
with the present church. It is also unknown
whether the church of the monastery was
separate from the monastery complex or
whether it was a part of it, as in Skriðu-
klaustur (Kristjánsdóttir 2010, Fig. 2).
As noted above, four very subtle, posi-
tive anomalies marking the corners of an
approximately 12.5x9 m rectangle were
detected inside the alleged dómhringur. It
is tempting to suggest that these are the re-
mains of a (stave) church. Excavated exam-
ples of medieval stave churches in Iceland
mostly have smaller dimensions, such as
Þórarinsstaðir (phase I with ca. 4.8x2.7 m
and phase II with approximately 6.4x4 m)
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