Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 2017, Page 153

ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS152
Summary
Homefield-maps: Snapshots of cultural landscapes.
Between 1916 and 1925, a detailed mapping of nearly all home-fields in Iceland
was undertaken. The project was the first large scale cartographic survey carried
out by Icelanders (earlier maps having been made by Danish surveyors). These maps
constitute one of the key sources used in contemporary archaeological surveys, as they
give important information about location of farms and other standing structures
in home-fields of rural Iceland in the early 20th century. Until recently, there had
been no systematic study of these maps in terms of how they were made, what was
recorded or the qualifications and skills of those who made them. This paper gives
an overview of a recent research project conducted by the author on the maps, and
discusses the surveyors and their methods in order to provide some assessment of the
value and limitations of the maps as a source material. The assessment also draws on
the author ś own experience as well as that of other archaeologists at the Institute of
Archaeology, Iceland, who have been using the maps for over two decades.
The original aim for making the home-field maps was to obtain more accurate
figures on the size of home-fields around the country, as well as to assess their
condition, for example the proportion of levelled home-fields and the sizes of
vegetable gardens. Prior to the creation of the maps all calculations were based
on estimates. Legislation about the mapping project was passed in parliament in
the fall of 1915 and the fieldwork itself began the following summer, continuing
into the 1920s. In all, 40 surveyors were employed; all were male and most had a
formal education in agricultural studies obtained from one of the four agricultural
colleges in Iceland. In general the maps were simple, depicting the size and shape
of the home-fields and vegetable gardens, but also usually included the location
and outline plan of farmsteads, outhouses and tracks. In some cases other details
were added, such as the function of the houses drawn, features of the landscape,
vegetation or place names.
The principal method used was chain surveying. Although the goal was to
create a series of standardized maps, the actual results varied greatly in detail
and precision. Moreover, the surveys were undertaken at a period of great rural
change, when the levelling and enlargement of home-fields was taking place on an
escalating and unprecedented rate. Consequently, the value of the maps as an index
of agricultural productivity was short-lived and in fact, the data recorded in these
maps became obsolete almost as soon as they were returned. They were thus soon
forgotten and collected dust in the archives for half a century until archaeologists
rediscovered them and saw their potential as a source in archaeological surveys.
The contemporary value of these maps lies not only in enabling archaeologists
to locate structures and features that have since been levelled, but more importantly,
they give us a snap shot of a cultural landscape in the early 20th century, a window
onto a world that has since disappeared or radically changed. It was this that also
earned the maps a place on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2016.