Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Page 38

Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir,
Kristborg Þórsdóttir And Ragnheiður Gló Gylfadóttir
Figure 3. Farm mound and part ofthe homefield ofÁrbœr. Thefarm was abandoned in 1899 due to erosion ofits
outfields. Photo: Óskar Gísli Sveinbjarnarson.
In the pilot study the available survey
data, place names, historical sources, stray
finds and other artefacts from the area, as
well as available environmental data were
collated to shed a better light on the es-
tablishment and the abandonment of the
settlements in the area as well as trying to
better understand the nature of the set-
tlement. Another aim of the study was to
identify the sites with the greatest research
potential. All information was collected
into a GIS database to aid analysis of hu-
man/environment interaction in the area.
In this paper we present the main results
of our investigations in Rangárvellir. We
outline Rangárvellir’s settlement history;
discuss it with reference to the debate on
volcanic impacts on settlement stability
and demonstrate the enormous research
potential of this area.
Hekla’s eruption history
Rangárvellir stands in the shadow of Hekla
and the area’s settlement history cannot be
appreciated without an understanding of
the volcano’s eruption history.
Hekla is a stratovolcano, a part of a vol-
canic ridge that is about 40 kilometres long.
Tephras from Hekla eruptions are found all
over Iceland. The tephra layers are thickest
around the volcano itself but the Hekla te-
phra is more commonly found in the north
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