Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Side 54

Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2015, Side 54
Elín Ósk Hreiðarsdóttir, Guðrún Alda Gísladóttir, Kristborg Þórsdóttir And Ragnheiður Gló Gylfadóttir Individual eruptions no doubt had negative effects but more significant in the long run were the indirect and cumulative eífects which the volcanic activity (compounded by land-use and climate change) had on soil erosion. Despite this the settlement persisted, continuously adapting farming practices and land-use to environmental changes. The abandonment and re-positioning of the farmsteads in the district has produced a substantial archaeological resource, with a large number of sites awaiting in- vestigation and large continuous areas of abandonment providing opportunities for landscape analysis and environmental re- construction. To determine to what degree the abandoned farms in Rangárvellir are the result of farm movement/relocation rather than abandonment in the sense that the farming operation was terminated, further research is needed. The question of aban- donment vs. relocation is one that has not been addressed systematically in Icelandic archaeology. The focus of future research in Rangárvellir will be directed towards bet- ter understanding of these processes in the vicinity of Hekla which we hope will also provide new insights into other abandoned settlements in Iceland. The relocation and abandonment of farms in Rangárvellir probably started in the first period of settlement, and it con- tinued until the 20th century leaving an archaeological trail that, aided by a dense tephra sequence, gives a great opportunity to trace the history of settlement in the area and detect changes in settlement patterns and farming practices. Research opportunities in the area around Hekla are vast. Out of the 149 known abandoned farmsteads 82 were classified as having good potential for fur- ther investigation. They have one or more of the following in common: a) Very little is known about their origin/ abandonment or overall history b) They are at a high risk of being destroyed in the near future c) They were abandoned before the end of the 19th century and did therefore not suffer from modern construction or farming practices. In the future our aim is to investigate more closely the sites classified with the highest research value with the help of aerial recon- naissance. The results of detailed mapping and photography will be used to select a smaller number of sites for more detailed investigations, including trenching. Even if a part of the abandoned farm- steads close to Hekla is still in good condi- tion the remains of some have completely disappeared in the last decades. Continued erosion, soil movement and forestry pose a great risk to some of the most notewor- thy places, including scheduled sites (Icel. friðlýstar minjar). This paper marks the beginning of a larger scale investigation of the settlement 52

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Archaeologia Islandica

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