Gripla - 2022, Page 139

137
largest and most diverse assemblages of lithic objects from any Icelandic
archaeological site, spanning jasper, opal, chalcedony and obsidian finds.
As many as 153 lithic finds were recovered from deposits at Reykholt’s
churches from the twelfth century through to the post-Reformation pe-
riod, and their accumulation and deposition peaks in the late twelfth to
thirteenth centuries.118
The most significant factor differentiating Reykholt’s assemblage from
other Icelandic lithic assemblages is the colour of the stones: 91.5 per cent
of the pieces recovered from the church excavations are varying degrees of
green, and this preference for green-coloured stone was consistently main-
tained for 400 years or more. Drawing on medieval science and Christian
doctrine, Kevin Brown suggests that green stones could have been selected
due to jasper’s status as a symbol of faith in the lapidary tradition (as a
stone which represented the Church itself, and which was believed to pro-
tect individuals from demonic influence), and also due to its associations
with the church’s patron Saint Peter.119
The mortuary record similarly evinces the continuing significance of
stones to bodies. Precious stones are found in many pre-Christian buri-
als of both men and women in Iceland: some of these have a hole bored
through them, suggesting that they were hung on the body,120 others are
found near the hips of the deceased, suggesting that they were carried in
small pouches on a belt.121 In her dissertation, Prehal observes the presence
of quartz, feldspar, opal, zeolite and calcite in pre-Christian Scandinavian
graves, focusing specifically on the association of quartz with the dead,
an association which continues in some Christian burials.122 While we
cannot know what functions the people buried with these stones believed
they had, the literary evidence suggests the properties may have pertained
118 Kevin Brown, “The Colour of Belief: Objects of Jasper, Opal, Chalcedony, and Obsidian
from the Reykholt Churches,” Reykholt. The Church Excavations, ed. by Guðrún Svein-
bjarnardóttir (Reykjavík: Þjóðminjasafn Íslands, 2016), 232.
119 Ibid., 240–41.
120 Jón Steffensen, “Aspects of Life in Iceland in the Heathen Period,” Saga-Book 17.2–3
(1967–68): 192–93.
121 Elisabeth Ward, “Nested Narrative: Þórðar saga hreðu and Material Engagement” (PhD
diss., University of California, Berkeley, 2012): 47.
122 E.g., at the medieval cemetery at Hofstaðir, where two quartz pebbles are placed in the
mouth of a skull. Quartz is also found in other Christian contexts, such as at the medieval
monastery site at Skriðuklaustur in Skagafjörður (Prehal, “Handbook,” 213–14).
LAPIDARIES AND L Y F S T E I N A R