Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1998, Side 232

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LANDSCAPES AT LANDNÁM: PALYNOLOGICAL AND
PALAEOENTOMOLOGICAL EVIDENCE FROM TOFTANES; FAROEISLANDS
Sample Context Description
S1345 LayerFK Outside House II, phase 1. 9th-1 Oth century.
S1376 LayerGK Outside House II, phase 1. 9th-1 Oth century.
S1563 LayerEP On old surface outside House II, a peaty layer with wooden items and wood waste, beneath buildings XI and XII, phase 1, 9th-1 Oth century.
S1581 LayerAN Supposed layer from demolition of House II - material from walls or roof ? Phase I/II, 9th-11 th century.
S1621 LayerFV From byre end of House II, floor or soil from walls, phase 1, 9th-1 Oth century.
S1622 LayerEU From byre end of House II, supposed floor layer, phase 1, 9th-1 Oth century.
Table 3. Archaeological contexts ofinsect samples.
Talva 3. Fomfrøðilig tíðarfesting av skordýra- royndunum.
quickly removed and surviving arboreal el-
ements (e.g. the Juniperus necessary for the
production of juniper ropes) must have
been protected from grazing animals or
must have been otherwise inaccessible to
them (e.g. on talus or cliff faces slopes).
The other arboreal taxa are probably a
wind-blown long distance component. An
exception could be Corylus avellana-type
(hazel); hazel nut shells were found at Tof-
tanes and both hazel nuts and wood were
found at the shieling site of Argisbrekka
beside Eiðisvatn (Malmros, 1994).
Can the patteming interpreted from the
pollen data be taken further? This would
represent an additional level of abstraction
given the caveats already entered regarding
sample taphonomy. What cannot be ig-
nored in Figure 3 is that the pollen spectra
are behaving in an apparently structured
fashion, with high Poaceae (contexts 9, 10)
giving way to expansions in Cyperaceae,
Lamiaceae, Caltha and Rumex acetosa
(contexts 6-8), charcoal (contexts 4-7), and
a resurgence of Poaceae (contexts 1-5).
Speculatively it might be advanced that
there was an initial episode, perhaps coeval
with early occupation at Toftanes, of graz-
ing and small-scale cereal cultivation. This
could have resulted in over-grazing (de-
creased flowering of grasses) or even some
abandonment as other plants (e.g. sedges,
thyme, sorrel) invaded formerly grazed ar-
eas. A successful effort may then have been
made to re-intensify use of the land and
more charcoal was produced (either from
burning of the land surface to encourage the
renewed spread of grass, and/or as a prod-
uct of more domestic activity); this latest
phase might also have seen further barley
cultivation.
Nothing has so far been said about the
pollen samples corresponding to those tak-
en for insect analyses. The pollen spectra
(Fig. 4) are dominated by Poaceae, Calluna
vulgaris, Cyperaceae and Potentilla-type
and they contain small amounts of Cere-
alia-type pollen. They are so similar to the
assemblages evident in Figure 4, that there
is no obvious justification for interpreting
them separately.
The insect faunas
Preliminary analysis of samples associated
with building II, the Norse longhouse, has
been directed towards elucidating the na-
ture of the landscape in the 9th to 1 Oth cen-
turies and any evidence for use of the build-
ing. The house (Fig. 2) is orientated south-
east-northwest, with a central fire trench in