Faunal Analysis from the 2005 Excavation at Aðalstræti Nr. 10 in Reykjavík, Iceland (lab report)

Summary

In 2005, Archaeological excavations at the site of Aðalstræti in downtown

Reykjavík were carried out under direction of Mjöll Snæsdóttir and Howell M. Roberts

from the Archaeological Institute of Iceland (FSÍ). Reason for these archaeological

activities was a planned rebuilding and reparation of the house at Aðalstræti 10, whose

building date falls into the latter half of the 18

th

Century (Snæsdóttir, 2005 – English

translation). Phase one of the investigations involved a series of test trenches, dug on the

western part of the plot in January and February of 2005, revealing neither archaeological

remains from the Viking age nor from the 18

th

Century. According to Snæsdóttir

(Snæsdóttir 2007), the early modern remains from Aðalstræti 10 lie to the north of the old

Reykjavík farm (Fig 2) which dates back to Settlement period (Markússon in Vésteinsson

2004).

The inside foundation of the house at Aðalstræti 10 was excavated in August to

September of 2005, yielding bone material which weighed about 30 kg. The excavators

found rows of stones associated with the original wooden floor of the present building as

well as several thick cultural layers underneath which were dated to the 18

th

century AD,

mainly based on pottery and clay-pipe fragments. The archaeofauna is associated with

these pre 1760s AD cultural layers which predominantly consisted of peat ash from fireplaces. The 2005 Aðalstræti archaeofauna is thus roughly datable to the early 18

th

to late

17

th

centuries AD (at the beginning of the process of urbanization at Reykjavik), and

appears to be closely associated with the Early Modern farm buildings.

This NORSEC Bone report uses zooarchaeological data from the analyzed faunal

remains gathered during the 2005 rescue excavation of the 18th century house in

Aðalstræti. A total of 30 kg of faunal materials were analyzed for this report. Bone rich

contexts were sampled for bulk and additional flotation samples were wet-sieved through

1 mm mesh.

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

NORSEC ZOOARCHAEOLOGY LABORATORY REPORT No.(s): 40

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