Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1998, Side 253

259
Early Holocene Investigations at Saksunar-
dalur and the Origins of the Faroese Biota
Eldri holosenar rannsóknir úr Saksunardali og upprunin til tað
føroyska biota
Paul C. Buckland1, Kevin J. Edwards1 and Jon P. Sadler2
1: Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, Sheffield University, Northgate House, West Street,
Sheffield S1 4ET, England
Phone: +44 114 222 2913, fax: +44 114 272 2563, e-mail: p.buckland@sheffield.ac.uk
2: School of Geography, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
Úrtak
Royndir av skordýrum og flogsáð vórðu tiknar av nøkr-
um støðum fram við Saksunardali í Streymoy. Skor-
dýraroyndirnar vóru fjaldar av tefru frá einum miðholo-
senum eldgosi úr íslendska gosfjallinum Heklu, og nakr-
ar royndir høvdu eitt undirlag av saksunarvatnsøsku.
Flogsáðrøðin varð tikin tvørtur ígjøgnum saksunar-
vatnsøskuna, einar 4 km í ein landsynning úr vatninum.
Tey biota, ið vórðu funnin, kunnu nýtast til framhald-
andi kanningar av upprunaligum plantu- og djóralívi, og
hvussu føroyska landslagið var í eldri tíð.
Abstract
Insect and pollen samples were recovered from a series
of locations along Saksunardalur on Streymoy, Faroe Is-
lands. The insect samples were sealed by tephra from a
mid-Holocene eruption of the Iccelandic volcano Hekla,
and one series was underlain by the Saksunarvatn Ash.
The pollen sequence was taken across the Saksunarvatn
Ash, some 4 km south east of the lake. The identified
biota provide a basis for discussion of the origins of the
flora and fauna, and the nature of the early Faroese land-
scape.
Introduction
Lying some 320 km north west of the near-
est point on the Scottlish mainland, the
Faroe Islands possess an essentially cool
temperate palaearctic biota, showing close
relationships with northern Britain and
western Norway (Enckell, 1985). The ori-
gins of the flora and fauna of the Atlantic
islands have been much discussed (e.g.
Love and Love, 1963; Lindroth et al,
1988). Botanists (e.g. Dahl, 1987), in par-
ticular, have tended towards the refugia hy-
pothesis, in which during the maximum of
glaciation, ice-free areas, either nunataks or
on the coastal plain below present sea level
provided refuges for elements of the biota
to survive at least since the late Tertiary
through repeated glacial interglacial cycles.
This model was largely refuted by Buck-
land and Dugmore (1991), who pointed out
that the prevailing climate at glacial maxi-
Fróðskaparrit 46. bók 1998: 259-266