Midden Investigations at Holt, S Iceland, July 2003

Summary

During July 14th-17th the CUNY Northern Science & Education Center

(NORSEC) collaborated with the National Museum of Iceland and the

Leverhulme Trust Project “Lanscapes Circum Landnam” in the investigation

of possible midden deposits around the farm of in S Iceland. The

investigations were supervised by Dr. Guðrun Sveinbjarnardóttir for the National

Museum of Iceland and by Drs. Sophia Perdikaris and Thomas McGovern of the

City University of New York (CUNY) and Drs. Andrew Dugmore and Mike Church

for the University of Edinburgh. The project was greatly aided by the work of the

CUNY students participating in the 2003 Research Experience for

Undergraduates (REU) program supported by a major grant (US National

Science Foundation, Arctic Social Sciences Program) to Dr. Perdikaris. All

artifacts, finds, photos and site records are archived at the Icelandic National

Museum, and a CD with a full digital archive accompanies this report.

The objectives of the 2003 investigations were to:

1. Relocate geological sections taken along drainage ditches near the farm

of Holt first excavated in 1980 by teams led by Dr. Paul Buckland.

2. Determine relationship of possible midden materials lo in 1980’s to

the farm site nearby.

3. Locate midden deposits with intact stratification and conditions of

organic preservation.

4. Sample midden deposits for artifacts, animal bone, wood, and soil

micromorphology.

5. Train students in stratigraphic excavation and recording of complex

midden deposits.

Keywords

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