Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1998, Page 227

LANDSLØG í LANDNÁMSTIÐ: FLOGSAÐFRØÐILIG OG 233
GRÓKORNFRØÐILIG PRÓGV AV TOFTANESI
Lab. Date (un- Date Date
code cal. AD) (cal AD; 1 o) (cal AD; 2 a)
K-4441 865+65 890 (980) 1020 810(980) 1040
K-4442 835+65 880 (900) 1010 780 (900) 1030)
K-4443 800±50 870(890) 970 780 (890) 1010
Tahle 1. Radiocarbon datesfrom House 1, Toftanes.
The calibrations for these dates are expressed as one
standard deviation ranges and the central date is
shown in parentheses (Stuiver and Pearson, 1993;
calculated using the program Calib v.3.0.3 [Stuiver
and Reimer, 1993]; all dates rounded to the nearest
lOyears).
Talva 1. Kolevni 14-dagfestingar úr húsi 1 áTofta-
nesi. Kalibreringarnar fyri hesum dagfestingunum
eru vístar sum eitt standard fráviksøki, og middags-
festingin er víst í klombrum (Stuiver og Pearson,
1993; útroknað við forritinum Calib v. 3.0.3 [Stuiver
og Reimer, 1993]; allar dagfestingar rundaðar til tey
næstu 10 árini).
sigma) and AD 780-1040 (2 sigma) (Table
1). The unweighted central mean date for
all three samples is AD 920. The shape and
construction of the buildings fits very well
with the pattem of Norse building styles in
the North Atlantic and the topographical
situation not only fits Small’s model, but is
identical to that of the Viking-age sites of
Niðri á Toft at Kvívík (Dahl, 1951) and
nearby Við Gjógvará in Fuglafjørður (Dahl,
1958; 1970).
The Faroese Norse landnám is assumed
on literary grounds (Færeyinga saga [The
Saga of the Faroe Islanders] ca AD 1200
[Halldórsson, 1987]) to date to ca AD 800
(Debes, 1990). The radiocarbon dates from
Toftanes are the earliest known for any
buildings in the Faroe Islands.
The Viking-age North Atlantic seems to
be largely aceramic (cf. Crawford, 1979),
with local pottery appearing in the Later
Norse period and the earlier phase, as at
Toftanes, typified by imported steatite ob-
jects.
The name Toftanes could be interpreted
as a primary one, thus indicating that de-
serted buildings (‘toftir’) were at the ness at
the time of the Norse arrival (Irish hermits
or early Norse raiders/settlers). It is as like-
ly, however, to be a secondary name, sug-
gesting that the farmstead became deserted
after the Viking period, but before the 16th
century, when the name appears in written
sources. This conjecture is supported by the
absence of excavated Late Norse objects
and the survival intact of other objects
(wooden bowls, metalwork, line sinkers,
querns) which were simply abandoned.
The late Jóhannes Jóhansen (1971; 1979,
1987) argued on palynological grounds that
the human occupation of Faroe stemmed
from pre-Norse times. If this were accept-
ed, then Toftanes would not equate to a
landnám farmstead, or not as far as Faroe
was concerned. There is no archaeological
support for this (Arge 1997), and this is not
the place to enter the debate, but readers are
referred to Debes (1990), Hansom and
Briggs (1990), Buckland (1992), and Buck-
land et al. (this volume).
Sampling for palaeoecology, laboratory
methods and the presentation of results
Samples for pollen analysis were taken by
Jóhannes Jóhansen in 1985. Ten samples
came from the deposits in the area between
buildings I and II (Figs 2 and 3; Table 2).
The strata here are very complex and con-
sist of a mixture of organic and minero-
genic material. The organic material is as-
sumed to possibly represent domestic and