Náttúrufræðingurinn - 2020, Page 60

Náttúrufræðingurinn
280
Ritrýnd grein / Peer reviewed
ABSTRACT
Records on routes across Vatna-
jökull glacier to Skaftafell as
well as to fishing stations at the
south coast and the reasons for
its facing out from 1600 on
The first of the three articles of this
series was published in this magazines
90th year no. 2–3 2020. There the
author reflected on sources about routs
across the Vatnajökull glacier, changing
coastline and vegetational cover.
In this, the second article, we further
trace the effect of the advance of Vatna-
jökull and its valley glaciers from about
1300 on and describe how it resulted
in subsidence of the land, eroding the
coastline and spoiling beaching sites
for boats along the southern coast. This
is attested in records, e.g. from Hálsa-
höfn in the property of Borgarhöfn in
Suðursveit, where there are remains of
seasonal fishermen’s huts said to have
been used by men from the Northern
quarter. This area was also visited by
fishermen from the eastern region of
Fljótsdalshérað, including the monas-
tery of Skriðuklaustur, which owned a
share in Borgarhöfn; this was probably
a source of stockfish for the monas-
tery. – In a mayor accident at sea near
Hálsahöfn in 1573 more than 50 men
were drowned; after this event the use
of the eroded harbour came to a close.
The route east of Vatnajökull contin-
ued to be used for some time longer, on
into the early seventeenth century by
men travelling to the fishing stations of
Austur-Skaftafellssýsla; this is attested
by old placenames. Written sources
from the sixteenth century also record
journeys made between Skaftafell
and Möðrudalur and the rights that
each of these properties had to exploit
resources pertaining to the other’s land.
The third and last article will resume
the account about two hundred years
later, in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, describing the search for a
route linking the Eastern and South-
ern quarters on the north side of the
glacier (Vatnajökulsvegur), ideas about
the location of Grímsvötn as a volcano
and the role played by foreign travel-
lers in exploring Vatnajökull glacier
until Icelanders in the twentieth cen-
tury resumed the leading role in glacier
travel and research.
23. mynd. Ragnar Stefánsson þjóðgarðsvörður og samverkamenn við Selbæinn í Skaftafelli 1975: Árni Reynisson framkvæmdastjóri Náttúru-
verndarráðs, Hrafnkell Thorlacíus arkitekt og Bragi Þórarinsson verkstjóri. – Ragnar Stefánsson, head of Skaftafell national park, with co-workers
in front of the old Sel farm, 1975. Ljósm./Photo: Hjörleifur Guttormsson.