Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1999, Page 141

UM ELSTA FØROYSKA JARÐARBÝTIÐ
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Fig 4. Close-up photo ofthe stone carving in the Valley of Koppurin
Mynd 4. Nærfotomynd av IM merkinum í flata steininum í Koppinum
enni, tums westward into the little valley or
depression called Koppurin (the cup). It
could either be a simple route created by
the sheep, or it could originally have been a
man-made path leading into this little val-
ley. On the spot, it appears clearly in some
places. The question then arises: Has this
little valley, Koppurin, had any special sig-
nificance?
Just where the modem road crosses
Skeiðsá, there is a signature on the map de-
picting two stones with the name, Ivars-
steinar, where ívar is a personal name, thus,
the /var-stones. In reality, there are three,
one east of the road and two to the west.
They are very impressive in size, about 3 x
3 x 4 m, thus perhaps weighing 80 tonnes.
They are lying in a straight line; I think that
this is an accidental occurrence, however.
Nevertheless, they are very conspicuous,
and could have acted as the passage from
one chiefdom to the other. The path into
which the four above-mentioned paths
merge over a short stretch passes along
within a few meters distance of the west-
ernmost of the Ivarssteinar.
The Valley of Mannafelsdalur
At a height of some 200-250 m Skeiðsá/
Fjarðará streams down towards Kaldbaks-
botnur, through the valley Mannafelsdalur,
sometimes also written Mannafallsdalur.