Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1971, Page 139

A Palaeobotanical Study Indicating a Previking
Settlement in Tjørnuvík, Faroe Islands
Gróðrafrøðiligar kanningar, sum vísa á eitt eldri landnám enn
norrønt í Tjørnuvík
Jóhannes Jóhansen
Introduction. This paper deals with some investigations
involving pollenanalysis the author has made in Tjørnuvík
during the last three years. Tjørnuvík became prominent in
1955—56, when a number of graves which could be dated
back to the viking age were found there (Dahl & Rasmussen
1956). No traditions had indicated that Tjørnuvík was such
an old village — on the contrary, it was generally supposed
to date back to late medieval times.
The investigations were made in order to determine the
vegetational development of this site during the last ca. 2.000
years. From radiooarbon — dated pollen diagrams, it should be
possible to find out when Tjørnuvík was first colonised. The
viking age graves of course gave only the minimum age of
the village. The result of my work, which I present here, was
unexpected. It showed that Tjørnuvík was colonised about
600—650 a,d.
The locality. Tjørnuvík is a little village in the northernmost
part of Streymoy (fig. 1). It is situated on a short fjord which
faces the open ocean. As can be seen from the photographs
(figs. 3, 4, 5), Tjømuvík is surrounded by high, extremely
steep mountains. Only in the bottom of the fjord is there a