Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1998, Page 275

SKORDÝRAFAUNA í LANDNÁMSTÍÐ: EIN FORNSKORDÝRAFRØÐILIG
RANNSÓKN f TIØRNUVÍK f STREYMOY
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Fig. 3. Tjømuvík from the south, looking down thefjord. The sample site lies at the base of the steep slope to the
right of the picture. (1985).
Mynd 3. Tjørnuvík sæð sunnanífrá, við útsýni niður yvir víkina. Staðið, har royndirnar eru tiknar, er niðast í teirri
brøttu líðini høgrumegin á myndini. (1985).
basalt fragments to 70mm in length, and
clearly largely derived from the steep
slopes adjacent to the sampling locality.
The faunal remains were poorly preserved,
and, although individuals of nine taxa were
identified, it is possible that this horizon re-
flects a significant break in peat growth on
the site. Despite the changes in the pollen
spectra immediately below this horizon
(op. cit.), none of the beetles is directly as-
sociated with human activities. The small
hydrophilid Megasternum boletophagum is
frequent in synanthropic situations, in dung
and decaying vegetable matter (Skidmore
1991), although this is insufficient to sug-
gest an anthropochorous origin since it may
appear before settlement in the Mykines
samples (Buckland et al. 1998b).
There can be no doubt that sample Tj 1/1,
from above the gravel layer, reflects a sig-
nificant amount of human activity on the
site, although its date can only be obtained,
by correlation with the 1970 open profile,
as older than AD 1070 ± 100 and younger
than AD 600 ± 100. The key species is the
scarabaeid, Aphodius lapponum, which is
restricted to the dung of larger herbivores
(Landin 1961), and could not therefore