Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Page 43

Abandoned Settlements at the Foot of Mt Hekla
Figure 5. One ofthe authors surveying the erodedfarm mound of Tröllaskógur/Stóriskógur. Two metal objects and
a whetstone werefound during the survey ofthe site and many other objects have beenfound there, e.g. an JJrnes-
style animal-brooch made ofsilver (Þjms. 6524) that confirms that the occupation ofthis sitegoes at least back to
the late VikingAge.
(lava flow and tephra) have not been the
greatest destructive force in the area and
even when farms were abandoned because
of tephra fall, most were rebuilt aífer a few
years or decades. Prolonged erosion and
soil movement triggered and exacerbated
by the eruptions, especially from the 16*
century onwards, seem to have had a great-
er impact on the settlement. A climatic
downturn at the same time can only have
made matters worse although much re-
mains to be understood about the complex
relationships between these factors.
Theories of farm abandonment
When examining farm abandonment in
Rangárvellir it is useful to look at previ-
ous research into abandonment in Iceland.
Farm abandonment has been a popular re-
search theme in Iceland as far back as the
18* century. Traditional explanations for
large scale farm abandonment focused on
natural catastrophes and epidemics - in
particular the plagues of the 15*century. In
the case of farm abandonment in the vicin-
ity of active volcanoes, eruptions have usu-
ally been thought to be the cause.
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