Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1991, Page 13

THE BURIAL SITE OF VIÐ KIRKJUGARÐ . .
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of the burials was ca. 30 cms, and that the
stone settings were for the most built directly
on top of the then existing surface. An obser-
vation that fits in very well with the impres-
sion of precision and care gained from the
stone features. In other words they were built
to be seen.
Although the overall impression is one of
regularity and conformity, a closer compari-
son of the individual burials reveals a certain
variety and individuality.
On the whole, the state of preservation of
the skeletal material was fairly poor.
However, teeth or rather dental enamel was
found preserved in all seven of the excavated
graves. The above cited age and sex determi-
nations are mainly based on the results of a
preliminary investigation of the skeletal and
dental material carried out on the spot in
19893. Certain modifications may arise fol-
lowing the more thorough examination
planned for the anthropological material.
Dating
The question of the date of the burial site,
and in this context whether the site is
heathen or Christian is somewhat problema-
tic.
The actual construction of the graves at
Sandur with their stone cists and settings
have their parallels in Viking Age graves
from Iceland as well as Orkney.
Due to their poor state of preservation,
most of the grave-goods were recovered as
samples that are still under analysis and con-
servation. It is, therefore, still too early to in-
clude these properly in a chronological
evaluation of the site. However, the general
impression gained from assemblages such as
the knives, the silver finger ring and the
Fig. 14. Clipped silver coin from grave K5A. Obverse
and reverse shown. Photo: O. Schneider 1989.
weights, is that these belong to the Viking
Age.
We had some hopes with regards to the sil-
ver coin from Grave K5A. The coin is a so-
called Kufic coin, the first of it’s kind to be
found in the Faroes. Initially, it was thought
that the coin could be placed with some pre-
cision and that the coin was an early type
dating from the period AD 747-775 (Arge &
Hartmann 1990:30)4. Other possibilities in-
clude a North African provenance with the
coin being minted in the area we now know
as Tunesia. If so, the coin can be dated to
AD 767-771 and was probably deposited in
the grave at Sandur sometime between AD
850-900. However, the possibility of the coin
being a later imitation is highly probable - a
fact of some importance when attempting to
establish the date and origin of the coin. If
this is so, the coin must originate among the
Khazars or Volgabulgars, and the suggested
date is then ca. AD 883-884 - that is some
100 to 200 years later than the date given by
the original coin5. The date of the coin only