North Atlantic Archaeology, Culture, History and Human Ecodynamics

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

2003 Skalholt Excavation Report

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Hofstadir Midden excavation reports

DOCUMENT Full-Text Seth Brewington.

This report provides an update on the ongoing analysis of the Viking Age to Late Norse archaeofauna recovered during the 2003 – 2006 excavations at the site of Undir Junkarinsfløtti (UJF), Sandoy, Faroe Islands. Nearly 60,000 bone and shell fragments have been analyzed to date, some three quarters of which have been identified to species level. Throughout all occupation phases, the UJF archaeofaunal assemblage is dominated by bird, shellfish and fish remains, with domestic mammals making up no...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Colin Amundsen. Sophia Perdikaris. Thomas McGovern. Matthew Matthew Brown. Yekaterina Krivogorskaya. Salina Modugno. Konrad Śmiarowski. Shaye Storm. Malgorzata Frik. Monica Koczela. Thomas McGovern.

This is a report of analysis of 15th c bone materials from the site of Akurvík in NW Iceland excavated in 1990. A small international project in Árneshreppur district recovered a series of stratified midden deposits associated with small turf structures on an eroding beachfront. Radiocarbon dates identify at least two major phases of occupation and use, one extending into the mid 13th century, and the other dating to the mid 15th century. This report documents the animal bone collection...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

In 2001 excavations by the Icelandic National Museum in the lava cave Vígishellir (also called Beinahellir, Surtshellir) documented the presence of defensive walls, a rock outline of a dwelling, and a bone rich midden deposit exposed on the cave floor. Traditional stories associated these features with a band of outlaws reputed to have raided the surrounding countryside during the 10th century from their fortified refuge within the cave (until they were eventually betrayed and killed). The...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Konrad Smiarowski.

July and August 2008 was the fourth season of the collaborative Norse Settlement in the Vatnahverfi Region, South Greenland ca. AD 985 – 1450 Project. The Danish Middle Ages & Renaissance Department at The Danish National Museum and the Greenland National Museum and Archives (NKA) collaborated with the Northern Science and Education Center at City University of New York (NORSEC/CUNY) to complete an archaeological project in Southwestern Greenland, in the Qaqortoq Municipality. The project...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Hofstadir Midden excavation reports

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Skalholt archaeofauna publication

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Hofstadir Midden excavation reports

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

This article attempts an interpretation of an unusual assemblage of cattle skulls recovered from recent excavations at the Viking Age monumental hall of Hofstaðir in Iceland. Osteological analysis of the skulls indicates ritual decapitation and display of cattle heads, and this article seeks to explore the meanings of this practice in relation to the context of the site and the wider historical and ethnographic literature. It is argued that the beheading of cattle and display of their heads was...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

This article attempts an interpretation of an unusual assemblage of cattle skulls recovered from recent excavations at the Viking Age monumental hall of Hofstaðir in Iceland. Osteological analysis of the skulls indicates ritual decapitation and display of cattle heads, and this article seeks to explore the meanings of this practice in relation to the context of the site and the wider historical and ethnographic literature. It is argued that the beheading of cattle and display of their heads...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

HST Monograph reports and article

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

This working paper is an attempt to assemble in a narrative format a number of analyses recently carried out on the domestic mammal bones from the sites of Hofstaðir (HST) and Sveigakot (SVK) in Mývatnssveit N Iceland excavated 1996- 2001. The current objective is really to pass information on to our collaborators and to encourage discussion and critique (please do). The collections compared come from midden fill of two pit houses (HST G and SVK T) and from a widespread sheet midden M at...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ragnar Edvardsson. Sophia Perdikaris. Thomas McGovern. Noah Zagor. Matthew Waxman.

This paper provides a report of the analysis of an animal bone collection excavated in 1990 from 18 th - early 19 th c deposits at the site of Finnbogastaðir, Árneshreppur, Strandasýsla, NW Iceland (Vestfirðir) and seeks to place the results in the larger context of early modern economy in the region through the integration of historical documentary sources and an ongoing program of landscape archaeology in the region. .

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

HST Monograph reports and article

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Hofstadir Midden excavation reports

DOCUMENT Full-Text Konrad Smiarowski.

Introduction July and August 2009 and June and July 2010 were the fifth and sixth seasons of the collaborative Norse Settlement in the Vatnahverfi Region, South Greenland ca. AD 985 – 1450 Project. The Danish Middle Ages & Renaissance Department at The Danish National Museum and the Greenland National Museum and 2 Archives (NKA) collaborated with the Northern Science and Education Center at City University of New York (NORSEC/CUNY) to complete an interdisciplinary archaeological project in...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

The site of Miðbær on the island of Flatey in Breiðafjörður, NW Iceland was test excavated in 1989 by Thomas Amorosi and Thomas McGovern, producing a column sample from a deeply stratified midden deposit. The initial faunal analysis conducted by Amorosi and McGovern revealed a dominant maritime component with high concentrations of bird, fish, and sea mammal bones. This paper both summarizes this unpublished analysis and adds a more detailed examination of the bird and fish remains.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison. Elise Alexander. Frank Feeley. Marjorie Gorsline. Megan Hicks. Slobodan Mitrovic.

A Total Number of Fragments, or TNF, of 13,471 were counted, yielding a Number of Identified Species, or NISP, of 6,923. The overall preservation was variable; some contexts contained many flaked bone and heavily deteriorated fragments, whereas other elements were in surprisingly good condition. Contexts (062) and (088) yielded the best preserved bone material, while remains from contexts (076), (082), (084), (086), frequently could only be placed in UNIM (Unidentified Mammal species) and Fish...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

This dissertation presents the analysis of faunal material recovered from middens outside the main complex of the Bishop of Southern Iceland´s Cathedral farm at Skálholt, Arnessysla, Iceland. Issues of diet, deposition patterns, as well as participation in larger trade and intellectual networks addressed. All of these issues are examined in order to investigate larger issues centered around the early modern Atlantic world. The Skálholt material is also compared with the larger body of existing...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison.

Analysis of the Hofstaðir (HST) artifacts made from faunal materials was carried out in January of 2008. Goal of this assessment was to understand better the source materials that were used in bone artifact manufacture. A second aim of this exercise was to see how much of the worked bone material could be assigned to categories more specific than just sea mammal vs. terrestrial mammal, and large animal vs. smaller animal.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Megan Hicks. Norman Kennard. Ramona Harrison.

Draft of Hornbrekka faunal report.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Yekaterina Krivogorskaya. Sophia Perdikaris. Thomas McGovern.

The date for the onset of full scale commercial fisheries in Iceland remains somewhat controversial, but thus far the earliest radiocarbon dated seasonal fishing station (11th- 13th century) is in NW Iceland’s Strandasýsla County at Akurvík. This paper presents a preliminary report of the ongoing analysis of the large archaeofauna from the farm mound at Gjögur, 3 km from Akurvík, places the site of Gjögur in the wider context of the NW region of Iceland by comparing the site with the Akurvík...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

HST Floor and Midden deposits

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Hofstadir Midden excavation reports

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison.

This faunal report presents new information on the Gásir archaeofauna which was collected during 5 years (2002 – 2006) out of the total 6 years of Archaeological excavations at the site of Gásir near the modern city of Akureyri. Under the direction of Howell Roberts of Fornleifastofnun Íslands (Archaeological Institute Iceland, FSĺ) and on behalf of Minjasafnið á Akureyri (Akureyri Museum), initial investigative activities at Gásir were begun in 2001. The project resulted in a large scale,...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Hofstadir Midden excavation reports

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Hofstadir Midden excavation reports

DOCUMENT Full-Text Uploaded by: Ramona Harrison

HST Floor and Midden deposits

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

HST Monograph reports and article

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

HST Monograph reports and article

DOCUMENT Full-Text Seth Brewington.

The 2010 archaeological excavation at the pre-1300 AD site of Ingiríðarstaðir, N Iceland, resulted in the recovery of some 365 animal bone fragments. Of these, 121 were identifiable to species. The archaeofaunal assemblage, generally poorly-preserved, is comprised entirely of domestic animals. Cattle and caprines dominate the specimens identifiable to species level, though the assemblage does also include one pig bone and the remains of a domestic cat.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern. Sophia Perdikaris. Ramona Harrison. Konrad Śmiarowski. Norie Manigault.

Preliminary faunal report.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Frank Feeley.

This report details the analysis of mammal bones recovered from one of the four trenches excavated at the medieval fishing station of Gufuskálar during the summer of 2011. During excavation it was noted that there seemed to be a high proportion of mammal bones recovered which correspond with high quality cuts of meat. This was counter to our assumptions regarding the economic status of fishermen during the medieval era as these cuts of meat would be rather expensive. The preliminary...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

The site of Miðbær on the island of Flatey in Breiðafjörður, NW Iceland was test excavated by Thomas Amorosi and Thomas McGovern for the National Museum of Iceland in 1989, producing a column sample from a deeply stratified midden deposit. The initial faunal analysis conducted by Amorosi and McGovern revealed a dominant maritime component with high concentrations of bird, fish, and sea mammal bones. This paper both summarizes this unpublished analysis and adds a more detailed examination...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Megan Hicks. Adolf Fridriksson. Frank Feeley. George Hambrecht. Lilja Palsdottir. Gardar Gudmundsson. Magnús Á. Sigurgeirsson.

Excavations have been ongoing at the N. Icelandic farm, Skútustaðir, since 2008 as an outgrowth of the Landscapes of Settlement project. The major objective of the 2011 excavation season at Skútustaðir was to complete the excavation of an already begun, large Trench, Area H (measuring 8.36 x 4 meters) by continuing the excavation down to the natural bedrock surface. This was completed by a four person team from CUNY and FSI directed by Adolf Friðrikson, with Francis Feeley, George Hambrecht and...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison.

The results of zooarchaeological analysis are presented here, with a very limited discussion on potential site economy. While the ruins visible in the landscape are likely from the medieval period and are reminiscent of medieval corridor houses from Greenland, faunal remains are from a later point in time and indicative of a long term use of this area, at least in terms of structural remains from the early 20th c. still standing. Today, this area is frequented by fox hunters and the land used by...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Number of Identifiable Species (NISP) Table

DOCUMENT Full-Text Megan Hicks.

The discovery of an intact midden at Skútustaðir’s historic farmstead in 2007 was a key finding for the planned investigation of the medieval and early modern periods in the lake Mývatn area of northern Iceland. The 2009 field season followed a soil coring survey and surface collection in 2007 and the excavation of four test trenches in 2008. Work was carried out by international team of archaeologists (hailing from the City University of New York (CUNY), North Atlantic Biocultural Organization...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison.

This report presents preliminary zooarchaeological results from the Viking Age and medieval midden deposits at the Oddstaðir farm ruins. Beyond providing a long term chronology on site management and farm economy, this site has produced faunal remains dating from the 13th to the late 14th c., contemporaneous with those found at the Gásir trading site and also those from the medieval monastic estate at Möðruvellir. Results from the Oddstaðir faunal analysis are highly valuable and suggest that...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ian Lawson. Mike J. Church. Alex Chepstow-Lusty. Frederick J. Gathorne-Hardy. Anthony J. Newton. Andrew Dugmore. Kevin J. Edwards.

Chapter on the paleoenvironment for the Hofstadir Monograph. Until recently very little was known about the history of environmental change in Myvatnssveit, although many other parts of Iceland have been investigated in some detail, beginning with the work of Sigurður Þórarinsson in the 1940s and Þorleifur Einarsson in the 1950s. Notable multi-disciplinary research at the landscape scale, associated with archaeological excavation, has taken place and is still continuing in Reykholtsdalur in...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison. Megan Hicks. Eileen Colligan. Amanda Schreiner.

In 2007 area G of the Eyri site in Ísafjörður, NW Iceland was object of a midden assessment undertaken by the Archaeological Institute of Iceland. The midden mound in area G is associated with the farm mound at Eyri in downtown Ísafjörður. The farm mound was previously trenched for occupational layers in 2003 and 2004 (Taylor et al 2005), yielding an assortment of animal remains that were analyzed in 2005 (Krivogorskaya & McGovern 2005). Upon coring the midden mound to define its edges, assess...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Frank Feeley. Sophia Perdikaris. Megan Hicks. Konrad Smiarowski.

This report is regarding the zooarchaeological remains excavated from Gufuskálar, on the north coast of Snæfellsnes in the west of Iceland, during the summer of 2008. The aim of this research was to investigate three mounds which are believed to be part of the long abandoned Gufuskálar fishing station. The inland farmstead at Gufuskálar has been documented as far back as 1274 and there were upwards of fourteen fishing booths along the coast during the 14th Century. The station was said to have...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Yekaterina Krivogorskaya. Thomas McGovern.

In 2004 a small archaeofauna was collected from a midd deposit in downtown lsafjord in NW Iceland. The species identified comprise the full range of domestic mammals (including a single pig bone), seal, whale, sea bird, and fish. The substantial amounts of domestic mammal bone, including new born sheep and cattle (usually indicating a dairy strategy) strongly st that this midden is associated with a farm and not a specialized fishing station. The collection shows variable bone preservation, but...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Konrad Smiarowski. Albína Hulda Pálsdóttir. Thomas McGovern.

The archaeofauna is still under study, and this report presents only a partial overview of the collection. However, a number of observations can be made at this stage: • The collection has been subject to severe attrition from freeze-thaw cycling and repeated flooding and drying. Only the most dense bone elements survive, and even teeth are badly preserved in some contexts. • While the conditions of preservation will limit the comparative value of the E74 archaeofauna and will probably make a...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern. Albína Hulda Pálsdóttir.

Introduction : This is a preliminary report of the animal bone collected in 2005-06 by international teams led by Ragnar Edvardsson for the Greenland National Museum and Archives (NKA) and NABO. The bone collections come from stratified contexts in the midden area south of the Brattahlið North Farm (E29N under the old Bruun system: now KNK 2629) whose structures were excavated in 1932. Degerbøl (1934) has provided a pioneering and still valuable zooarchaeological report of the early excavations,...

DOCUMENT Full-Text George Hambrecht.

2005 Skalholt Zooarch Report

DOCUMENT Full-Text George Hambrecht.

This report presents results of a preliminary analysis of the archaeofauna at the Episcopal farm of Skálholt, Arnessyslá, southern Iceland. This report presents the preliminary analysis of group 634. Group 634 was a 3X5 meter trench oriented lengthwise north to south opened up on June 28th of 2004 by Birna Lárusdóttir. Further excavation of this group was conducted by George Hambrecht during June of 2005, and a 1x3 meter extension was opened up off of the north end of the initial trench....

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

2006 Skalholt Zooarch Report

DOCUMENT Full-Text Konrad Smiarowski.

The excavation at E47 Gardar took place during the 2012 collaborative fieldwork carried out in a cooperation between the Greenland National Museum and Archives, CUNY, U Stirling, National Museum of Denmark, and the Archaeological Institute Iceland coordinated by the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization research cooperative (NABO www.nabohome.org). In response to initial reports on substantial drainage ditch disturbance by Hans Kapel (Kapel 2005) and the ditch profile cleaning and column...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern. Sophia Perdikaris.

In 2001 the FSĺ / NABO project Landscapes of Settlement in Northern Iceland collected animal bones from a stratified midden deposit associated with the abandoned site Selhagi on the property of the modern farm Haganes. Selhagi is located in the lushly vegetated lakeshore zone and its environmental setting presents a strong contrast with the eroded uplands to the S of the lake where the early sites at Sveigakot and Hrísheimur are under excavation. Close to both major migratory waterfowl nesting...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern. Sophia Perdikaris. Colin Amundsen.

During rescue excavations in downtown Reykjavík in 1999 nearly 100 kg of well-preserved animal bone was recovered in investigations at Tjarnargata 3 C by Fornleifastofnun Islands (FSÍ) directed by Mjöll Snaesdóttir. This bone collection (or archaeofauna) was largely sieved (4 mm and 1 mm mesh wet screen) and represents one of the largest archaeofauna recovered from Iceland to date. Analysis was carried out at City University of New York’s Northern Science & Education Center’s two zooarchaeology...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Small archaeofauna from two highland sites located above 400 m above sea level, over 100 km inland in the upper reaches of the Skjálfandafljót river valley indicate the early presence of human settlement in this far inland area. While heavily deflated, the site of Undir Sandmúla produced an archaeofauna from stratified context directly above the Landnam sequence tephra, probably dating to the late 9th or early 10th century. This collection is from a highly burnt ”fireplace cleaning” deposit...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern. Ramona Harrison. Seth Brewington. Peter Kuchar.

Small archaeofauna from two highland sites located above 400 m above sea level, over 100 km inland in the upper reaches of the Skjálfandafljót river valley indicate the early presence of human settlement in this far inland area. While heavily deflated, the site of Undir Sandmúla produced an archaeofauna from stratified context directly above the Landnam sequence tephra, probably dating to the late 9th or early 10th century. This collection is from a highly burnt ”fireplace cleaning” deposit...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Seth Brewington. Ramona Harrison.

Report on the Dettifoss archaeofauna

DOCUMENT Full-Text Seth Brewington.

The 2006/7 archaeological excavations at the site of Á Sondum, in the Faroe Islands, produced an archaeofaunal assemblage of 271 bone and shell fragments. Only about half of the heavily fragmented, poorly preserved assemblage was identifiable to species or taxonomic level. Of the species identified, caprines (sheep/goat) are the most numerous, followed by seabirds. The overall poor condition of the assemblage unfortunately prohibits a robust examination of the Sondum domestic economy.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Phasing for contexts from which Tom McGovern has analysed animal bones at Reykholt

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison.

This report presents results on zooarchaeological analysis from the Möðruvellir Midden Mound, or Öskuhóll, adjacent to the site’s extensive farm mound. Möðruvellir, likely a chieftain’s farm during the Settlement period, became House of Canons/Augustinian Monastery in the late 13th C, and remained an important ecclesiastical center even after the Reformation. Beyond functioning as religious institution, it served as seat for the regional governor for the Danish Crown at least during the Early...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison.

This report provides initial analysis of the Siglunes faunal collections rescued in 2011 and 2012. Currently, there are limited data sets available, mainly a breakdown of the major taxa, and selected fish elements, all gadids or members of the codfish family, and a majority thereof cod (Gadus morhua). One context from Mound E, 187/184, has been analyzed in its entirety. Radiocarbon Analysis places this context into the 14th c. Analysis of the marine fish remains from this context’s provides a...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

2002 Skalholt Excavation Report

DOCUMENT Full-Text Ramona Harrison.

In 2008, the author together with Þóra Pétursdóttir from FSÍ cored the Skuggi site and located and tested a medieval midden. In 2009, a larger scale midden excavation was carried out. The trenched midden and especially its underlying structure are remains of the original site settlement, with other structures possibly associated with later site activities mentioned in written sources (Hreiðarsdóttir 2008:233, some information in English in Harrison et al 2010). Radiocarbon analysis dates the...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

In 2006 a small collection of animal bones (archaeofauna) was recovered from a pit fill from the farm and church site near the famous assembly site of Thingvellir in southern Iceland. The bone collection was from a pit (context 714) and was associated with pieces of hack-silver and three (?)silver coins of 11th century date. The analysis of the bone remains indicates that these were animal (not human) remains, and that sheep, pig, and a larger animal (probably cattle) were represented. The...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

HST Floor and Midden deposits

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas Amorosi. Thomas McGovern.

1994 Faunal report from the Viking Age collection at Granastadir, Eyjafjordur, Iceland.

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

This paper presents the bulk of existing early modern Icelandic zooarchaeological data together for the first time. The early modern period in Iceland was generally a time of great stress and hardship. These zooarchaeological data present a view of the responses to these hard times and suggest, contrary to a number of historical interpretations, that the people of Iceland often adapted to harsher conditions in dynamic ways. Given the growing effort in archaeology for this period in Iceland as...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Power Point Presentation

DOCUMENT Full-Text Clayton Tinsley. Thomas McGovern.

Small samples of post-Medieval animal bone were collected during the excavations of the Aðalstræti 14-16 site in 2001. This second stage assessment presents an overview of these Zooarchaeological materials and may indicate the value of further analysis of some of these contexts in future. The major contexts could be divided stratigraphically into four major phases (modern, 19th c., post- 1764 , and pre -1764 fire horizon). Only the two 18th century phases produced partially quantifiable sample...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Clayton Tinsley. Thomas McGovern.

The 2001 excavations of a Viking-Age hall at Aðalstræti 14-16 in downtown Reykjavík produced a small and highly fragmented collection of burned animal bone. The bone collection derived from the hall floor layers and was recovered through flotation and retention of 1 mm mesh sink fraction. Approximately 3 % of the collection could be identified, allowing for only the most basic quantification. Nevertheless, all the major Settlement Period domestic mammals are represented (Cattle, Caprine, Pig,...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern. Sophia Perdikaris. Colin Amundsen.

Excavations by Archaeological Inst. Iceland at the small inland farm site of Sveigakot in Mývatn district of N Iceland since 1999 have produced a substantial archaeofauna dating from the first settlement in the late 9th c down to final abandonment in the late 12th c with a period of abandonment and reoccupation in the early 11th c. Three midden deposits datable by tephra, radiocarbon and artifacts span the major occupation phases and provide the basis for this report of the ongoing...

DOCUMENT Full-Text Thomas McGovern.

Early stages of the investigations at Hofstaðir directed by the Archaeological Institute Iceland revealed that substantial amounts of well-preserved animal bone were present in contexts throughout the site, with a major concentration in the fill of the large sunken featured structure G. The site directors kindly involved the NABO zooarchaeologists (led through various seasons by Tom McGovern and Sophia Perdikaris), and the zooarchaeology team was able to participate directly in the field...