Midden Investigations at Steinbogi (SBO), Mývatnssveit, N Iceland, 2002

Summary

During the 2002 field season of the Landscapes of Settlement Project

(directed by Fornleifastofnun Islands with collaboration by the NABO

cooperative) the CUNY team was tasked to locate and excavate midden deposits

associated with the small abandoned farm Steinbogi in ývatn district (28 W

0399697, UTM 7276512, ca 280 m asl). The site is endangered by highway

construction and is target of a multidisciplinary

rescue effort as part of the overall

regional research and education effort. The

midden team located an extensive midden

deposit up to 75-80 cm thick in front of what

appears to be the main house mound. A 3 x

3 m midden unit K was begun, and carried

through to subsoil in a small 25 cm x 1 m

sondage. Significant amounts of well preserved

animal bone were collected, along with artifacts suggesting a medieval date for

the majority of the deposit (including the games piece illustrated above). The

midden is not deposited upon an undisturbed natural surface, but rests on what

was probably extensive turf cuttings that have been carried to the surface of the

prehistoric H3 tephra. There are no other in situ tephra visible, even the thick

1477 tephra seems to have been removed by later turf cutting. However the

surviving midden deposits are quite rich in well preserved bone and artifacts,

including a single sided comb fragment roughly dating main context to pre-

1200 AD. The deposit is well worth further investigation and should provide a

welcome comparison to later phases of the other Mývatnssveit archaeofauna.

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