Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Page 50

Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir,
Kristborg Þórsdóttir And Ragnheiður Gló Gylfadóttir
or fully comparable to the other periods as
there are much fewer contemporary written
sources that provide information on farms.
A considerably lower number of farms
known from this period were dated by writ-
ten sources than in periods II-IV.
Ihe farmsteads with period I dates were
distributed fairly evenly across the area.
Their locations seem to correlate strongly
with access to water, as most of them are
found by large rivers or brooks. One of the
clearest exceptions to this is a row of farms
located in the northern part of the area,
west of extensive scoria lava fields. The
farms in this area are located in a single
line running from northeast to southwest.
All the other similar alignments seem to
be connected to water bodies. In this area
no water is found today. If rivers or brooks
used to run through it during period I but
then dried out, it might have been a con-
tributing factor to the abandonments since
it would have changed the quality of the
land drastically. Further research is needed
to determine if any of the farmsteads estab-
lished in period I might already have been
abandoned before the end of it.
The available data suggests an increase
in the number of settled farmsteads in peri-
od II (1300-1650). Many of the farmsteads
established in period I continued to be
occupied in period II and a few new ones
seem to have been established. It is likely
that some of the farms that are first men-
tioned in written sources from this period
might have originated in period I even if
there is no evidence which allows this to be
stated with certainty. Combined, the availa-
ble data suggests that at least 76 farms were
occupied in period II.
Some major changes seem to occur in
period III (1650-1800). While new farms
are still being established in this period (at
least 31 new farmsteads) abandonment or
relocation of farms seems to have been fre-
quent with 24 farmsteads abandoned. The
total increase of occupied farmsteads in
the period is thus only seven (total rising
to 84 farmsteads) which cannot be consid-
ered as a significant change in farm occu-
pation from the preceding period. But the
shifts in establishment of new farms and
abandonments suggest a major increase in
settlement instability in this period. One of
the driving factors in farm abandonment/
relocation in this period was undoubtedly
erosion that had started to seriously affect
the district. New farmsteads were often lo-
cated close to abandoned ones suggesting
significant volatility of settlement location
within the district.
The final period (1800-1900) is by far
the best documented and together all the
evidence indicates large scale instability of
settlement in the area. 24 new farms/farm-
steads were established in this period and
28 farmsteads abandoned but many of the
“new farms” were in fact a relocation of
farmsteads within the farm property due to
erosion.
48