Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 2019, Qupperneq 85

ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS84
Gylfi Helgason. 2015. Hvalveiðar Norðmanna við Vestfirði á 19. öld:
Rannsóknarskýrsla. Rannsóknasetur Háskóla Íslands á Vestfjörðum,
Bolungarvík.
Heimir Þorleifsson. 1961. Hvalveiðar við Ísland árin 1883‒1915. Námsritgerð í
landfræði 3. stig við Háskóla Íslands. Reykjavík.
Óbirt gögn úr verkefni um strandminjar. Minjastofnun Íslands.
Sighvatur Jón Þórarinsson, 24.08.2015. Munnleg heimild.
ÞÞ: Þjóðháttasafn Þjóðminjasafns Íslands. Svör við spurningaskrá nr. 35: Útilíf.
Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, Reykjavík.
Ö-Langabotns: Örnefnaskrá Langabotns. Örnefnasafn Stofnunar Árna
Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum, Reykjavík.
Summary
An archaeological investigation on 19th century whaling stations in Vestfirðir
The history of Norwegian whaling from 1883–1915 in Iceland has to date mostly
been researched by historians leaving many archaeological questions unanswered,
such as the preservation and the nature of 19th century whaling sites. The main
aim of this project presented here, was to address the imbalance of the present
state of knowledge regarding the significance of the maritime landscapes of the
19th century Norwegian whaling stations. Overall, eight stations were constructed
during the 19th century, but only four have been examined so far, Dvergasteinn
in Álftafjörður, Uppsalaeyri in Seyðisfjörður, Höfðaoddi in Dýrafjörður and
Sólbakki in Önundarfjörður. To create a holistic view of the whaling sites, the
project integrated documents, oral evidence, photographs; and undertook both
archaeological field‒walking surveys and underwater surveys in the vicinity of
the stations. In total, 28 archaeological structures associated with the Norwegian
whaling industry were surveyed: ten at Dvergasteinseyri, five at Höfðaoddi,
thirteen at Uppsalaeyri, with no structures surveyed at Sólbakki.
The project shed light on the poor state of preservation of the Norwegian
whaling stations in Vestfirðir, which have been damaged by later activities
and in some cases are still under threat. The project also demonstrated that a
combination of terrestrial and underwater archaeological surveys on maritime
sites, such as whaling stations, trading posts and fishing stations, further enhances
our understanding of such sites and emphasises the potential for archaeology to
increase our knowledge of maritime landscapes in Iceland.