Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Page 36

Eli'n Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir,
Kristborg Þórsdóttir And Ragnheiður Gló Gylfadóttir
Figure 1. A map ofthe research area. Map: Oscar Aldred.
south of the river Þverá (Fig. 1). Rangár-
vellir has been heavily aífected by soil ero-
sion, reaching a peak in the late 19thcentury
when many farms were permanently aban-
doned. Until recently the archaeology of
Rangárvellir has been poorly understood
and no major excavations have been car-
ried out there. Between 2006 and 2009 an
archaeological field survey identified over
1800 sites (Edwald 2008; Þórsdóttir 2010).
It was the first comprehensive survey of the
district and among other things it revealed
a very high number of abandoned farm-
steads, 149 in an area which traditionally
has supported 60 farms. The abandoned
farms seemed to date from diíferent periods
and the sites were in a very varied condition;
while erosion and other threats had dam-
aged or destroyed many, others were very
well preserved. An evaluation of threats to
the archaeology demonstrates that some of
the sites will disappear in the next few de-
cades unless drastic measures are taken.
The high number of abandoned settle-
ments called for further research in order to
understand the nature of the abandonment
and to what extent it was influenced by
eruptions in Hekla and changing environ-
mental conditions in the area. In order to do
just that and to take the first steps towards a
focused research plan, a pilot study was car-
ried out in 2011-2012 (Aldred et al. 2012).
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