Faunal Analysis from the 2005 Excavation at Aðalstræti Nr. 10 in Reykjavík, Iceland (lab report)
Part of the North Atlantic Biocultural Organization (NABO) project
Author(s): Ramona Harrison; Marjorie Gorsline; Megan Hicks; Elise Alexander; Frank Feeley; Slobodan Mitrovic
Year: 2008
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.
Cite this Record
Faunal Analysis from the 2005 Excavation at Aðalstræti Nr. 10 in Reykjavík, Iceland (lab report). Ramona Harrison, Marjorie Gorsline, Megan Hicks, Elise Alexander, Frank Feeley, Slobodan Mitrovic. CUNY Northern Science and Education Center, NABO, IPY 2007-10. 2008 ( tDAR id: 3346) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8JQ0Z04
Keywords
Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation
Geographic Keywords
Reykjavík
Spatial Coverage
min long: -22.2; min lat: 64 ; max long: -21.6; max lat: 64.3 ;
Record Identifiers
NORSEC ZOOARCHAEOLOGY LABORATORY REPORT No.(s): 40
File Information
Name | Size | Creation Date | Date Uploaded | Access | |
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norsec40adalstr102005.pdf | 543.42kb | Oct 16, 2010 10:43:14 AM | Public |